KND Chronicles: Invasion
by Jackrkazi141FTW
Summary: Nigel Uno left Earth to to serve the GKND, now he is back and things couldn't be better, but on the eve of Nigel's return, strange kids with a mysterious connection to the KND launch an all out invasion of the Earth. As Nigel and the KND fight desperately to save their home, ancient secrets are revealed, secrets that will make them question everything they know about the KND.
1. Chapter 1: Days Gone By

**(Note for past viewers, this is an updated version of this chapter, as it was my first chapter it contained bad writing and some very poor mistakes, this is a revised version, this note for viewer confusion.)**

**Hello everyone, I'm kinda new at this and this is my first fanfiction, so please no flaming or trolling.**

**Like I said, I'm new to this but this is a story idea I've been dying to try for ages, so please excuse the writing in some places. This is going to be a long story.**

* * *

**KND Chronicles: I.N.V.A.S.I.O.N.**

**I**nsidious

**N**ew

**V**isitors

**A**ssault

**S**everely

**I**ncapacitates

**O**peratives

**N**ationally

* * *

GG_: The time has come, we have prepared for long enough._

GA_: We should not be so hasty, we waited a thousand years we _

_ can wait a few more._

GG_: Now is the right time, HE is no longer with them, we should act while he is away _

_ with those treacherous confederates._

GA_: You mean the "Galactic Kids Next Door"._

_' _Laughter from all'

GG: _Hahaha, but enough games, they had their chance as we had ours, they failed to _

_ take advantage of the time they had, now they must face the consequences._

GA: _They are kids like us, they should be given a second chance as we were._

GG: _We __made__ our second chance, __YOU__ made our second chance Schmitt, they should_

_ only be so lucky to gain what we have._

GA: _We should offer them a chance to join us!_

GG: _No, they are too attached to the homeworld, to their families and lives, they are but_

_ young children, they would never give that up._

GA: _We did_, _HE__ did._

GG: _HE is irrelevant, he cannot stop our plans and even if he knew, there is nothing he _

_ can do._

GA: _Be careful what you say, it may just come back to haunt you._

* * *

**KND Moonbase (24 hours to X-Day)**

All around the bridge of the moonbase KND officers and operatives went about their duties. It was, as one could say, an average day in the KND. Well, as average as it got since Numbah 1, Numbah Infinity and Numbah 74.239's disappearances. For some in the KND, things just hadn't been the same since that day. It just so happened that five of those people happened to be on the moonbase bridge at this very moment. Numbah 1's old team sector V, made up of Numbahs 2-5 and his old commanding officer/ secret crush, Numbah 362, Rachel McKenzie.

"Hey chief, I need those papers signed ASAP" yelled Numbah 204. "Ugh, huh, what, oh yeah, right away Numbah 204", said Numbah 362, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She yawned, having barely slept a wink last night from yesterdays paper load. She sighed, _things some how seemed to be so much easier_ she thought. _Really though _she thought to herself, _it wasn't that things were easier, it was just easier to do them when he was around from time to time_. She remembered the days before this, before the hardships and fighting and turmoil.

Numbah 1 had been gone for almost a year and a half now and nobody knew where he had gone. The only people who might know were sector V and either out of ignorance or out of a sense of loyalty to Nigel, they wouldn't tell her anything. She remembered questioning them after the whole debacle with the scavenger hunt, how they seemed so suspicious of her when she mentioned Nigel's disappearance. _They know something_, lost in thought she forgot about what was going on around her until Numbah 86 stormed up to her command console in a fit of rage. "THATS IT, I CANNOT STAND THAT BOY ANY LONGER!", she screamed. "What is it now Fanny", said Rachel, annoyed at the interruption to her thoughts. "That STOOPID boy, thinks that just because he is the "Drill Sergeant" of the Arctic Base, that he can take half of my decommissioning squads just to help him lock down his stoopid ice fort". Rachel grumbled under her breath, she knew the "stoopid" boy Fanny was talking about. Numbah 60, Patton Drilovsky, was the unofficial commander of the KND Arctic Base. As senior cadet trainer (aka drill sergeant), he had pretty much taken over as full time base commander, a position few apposed, unfortunately, that few included Numbah 86. The last thing Rachel wanted was to get caught up in another petty fight between her top drill sergeant and chief decommissioning officer, but as a friend and her boss she said, "look Fanny, if Patton thinks he needs some extra help to lock down the base then I think you should just trust his judement." "Thats not the point", replied Fanny angrily, "he's supposed to be the "commander" of the Arctic Base, he should be able to solve his little problems without running to Moonbase for help every ten seconds." "Your exaggerating again Fanny", Rachel said in a bored tone, already tired of the situation. "I'm... thats not... WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN", Fanny blurted out. Rachel face palmed and sank into her chair as her "friend" continued her tirade. _Honestly,_ she thought, _I really should have demoted her by now._

Meanwhile on the other side of the command bridge, the last of sector V were engaged in some friendly chit-chat, when they heard the commotion. "Man, does she ever stop yelling", said Numbah 4, "it's like someone replaced her mouth with a stereo and turned the volume up to extra loud." "Numbah five's with you on that one baby", said Numbah 5, "be at least grateful that she's not yelling at us this time." "Yeah Numbah 4, at least she's not yelling at us This Time", said Numbah 3, staring at Wally. "Hey", said Numbah 4, "It sure wasn't my fault we failed that mission." "Sure it was", said Numbah 3, "first there was the part where you said our whole attack plan over the loudspeaker, oh oh and then there was the part where you forgot all of your weapons and lost the keys to the ship!" "Actually Numbah 3, that part was my fault", said Numbah 2. "Say what", said Numbah 5, staring daggers at Hoagie, "you mean to tell me it was your fault we had to walk 10 miles to get home that night!" "HA, I told you guys it wasn't my fault", said Numbah 4, grinning. "Uuuggghhh", Numbah 5 facepalmed.

It was at this point that Fanny's screaming reached an even higher note, drowning out all other sounds on the bridge, so loud in fact that no one could hear the alert siren as it started blaring. "COULD SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT HER UP", screamed Numbah 321, "I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK!" "THATS NOT NUMBAH 86 THATS THE ALERT SIREN", screamed Numbah 204. It was at that point that Numbah 141 walked onto the bridge, an angry, but confused look on his face. "HEY! WHY IS EVERYONE YELLING UP HERE", he shouted, "I COULDN'T HEAR MYSELF THREE DECKS DOWN, SO YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR ALL THIS NOISE!" The shouting on the bridge instantly stopped, only to be replaced by the blaring of the alert siren. Numbah 141 looked at the bridge staff quizzically, "well? Are you all just gonna stand there or is someone gonna to check out that alert!" "Uh...uh, right away sir!", stammered Numbah 321, checking the readings on his station.

Numbah 141 walked over to where Numbahs 362 and 86 were still standing. Fanny's face was almost purple from all screaming she had been doing as Numbah 141 looked at her angrily. "As for you missy, I expect you rant to about your little personal problems on your own time and not on mine!" Numbah 86's face went instantly from purple to bright red with rage, "MISSY!" she screamed. Numbah 141 kept a cool, if irritated face, "yes missy, I think the situation warrants it, if you want me to address you with respect then start acting like an officer and stop whining like a baby!" Rachel did a double take, it was rare for anyone to say anything like that to the chief decommissioner, at least more than once anyway. Fanny looked like she was about to burst with anger, but numbah 141, not one to be intimidated, held his ground. Fortunately for him, he held a good stance, outranking 86 by almost three whole levels and standing at around an entire head taller than her. He glared fiercely at 86 and she glared back, Rachel meanwhile, sat on the sidelines and face palmed, this was the last thing she needed right now. If there was someone who could tick off Numbah 86 more than Numbah 60 it was Numbah 141. Ever since he had been given tactical command of the Moonbase, the two had been going at it over the smallest issues.

_They're both way too stubborn, _she thought. Needless to say, she liked Numbah 141. He had only recently come into a command position, having been promoted for acts of bravery during a particularly nasty battle with Father's forces, a conflict most operatives called the Beach War, he came from similar backgrounds as herself. He had started as a regular officer in a newly created sector, dubbed sector CA (California, duh) a sector created to help fill the void of losses the KND had been suffering since Numbah 1's disappearance. He had only taken the promotion out of a feeling of being needed by the KND, a feeling she had had when she had taken over as Supreme Leaduh after Chad's betrayal. His promotion had eventually seen him given the rank of Global Fleet Commander, or as most people just called him, the Admiral. As the name suggested, he had been put in direct command of the KND global fleet, a fleet he had been reorganizing to meet the KND's new demands.

As an officer, he was a good soldier, always following orders and giving just the right ones in return. However, he was often quick to anger and had radically different views on how the KND should be run, views that had often led him into arguments with some of the KND's more "traditional" bound members. Recently, due to some problems on Earth, he had been given a whole lot of leeway and was currently performing experiments into new 2x4 technology down in the new labs at Arctic Base. _That lee__way is gonna have to change soon,_ Rachel thought to herself, while 141 finished up with 86 in the background, _I can't be shown having some favoritism between my officers._ However,the other half of her conscience said, _when he was around, you always favored him more than anyone else. _She sighed, she knew her conscience was right, but that still didn't change the present. This thought brought her back to reality and she begin to notice her surroundings again. Numbah 86 was quailing on the other side of the bridge, with a jittery expression on her face and Numbah 141 was standing impassively behind the bridge staff as they finished their assessment of the alert.

Rachel looked at Fanny again, confused, then asked, "what did you say to her?" Numbah 141 turned around a look of amusement on his face and said, "I told her that if she wanted to remain as head decommissioning officer to shut up and do her job, otherwise I'd demote her and send her to clean toilets at the Arctic Base under Numbah 60, that shut her up." He grinned, "never thought one of those arguments would end so quickly." Rachel frowned, the admiral's now jolly behavior was confusing next to his controlled rage just minutes ago. Still she shrugged, as the admiral's confusing mood swings were fairly common these days, and said, "next time try and end it a bit sooner, and you didn't mean any of that did you?" His grin widened, "maybe, but she doesn't need to know that. He turned back to his work, leaving her to her thoughts. She wished she had known him better before his time as admiral, it would have made it so much easier to deal with him, but he had only joined the KND 3 years ago and that was back when Nigel was still here and she had had little reason to seek him, a single operative out all the way over in California, while she was living in Virginia. Still, he made a good officer and in times like this, she'd take all the good officer she could get.

Meanwhile, Numbah 321 had finally finished his scan. "Sir, it looks like it was proximity warning, our long range scanners are detecting a fast moving object approaching Earth through the asteroid belt." He hit a button and immediately a basic picture of the object's position in the solar system was displayed on one of the overhead screens. "Identify", ordered Numbah 141, "and did it really take you that long to come up with this?" "Negative identification sir", said Numbah 321, "and I'm sorry sir, a bit off my game today." "Hmmm", Numbah 141 thought to himself for a moment, "Numbah 362 I need your authorization to move orbital patrols to engage the incoming object." "Now hold on numbah 141", replied Rachel, "we don't even know what it is yet." "It's obviously either a space rock or an alien ship, I mean what else could it be?", said Numbah 141, the other operatives on the bridge looked skeptical when they heard the word alien, all except sector V, who just stared at each other. "You don't think it could be...", said Numbah 2, "I think that you need to shut your mouth before someone can hear you finish that sentence", Numbah 5 snapped back, "even if it is him, we swore never to tell anyone about the GKND and I am not about to break our last promise to Numbah 1."

Suddenly the object increased speed, much faster than any space rock could move on it's own, it rocketed out of the belt and headed straight towards the Moonbase. "IT'S HEADED STRAIGHT FOR US" screamed Numbah 321, "ALL FLEET PATROLS ENGAGE!" ordered the admiral. "Sir it's too late, they'll never hit it at that speed" said Numbah 92, a tremor in his voice, "WE'RE ALL DOOOOMMMED" screamed 321. "Order all base defense to fire on the object when it gets in range, also order all damage control teams to stand by, if this thing hits us we need to be ready to handle anything and everything" ordered the admiral, he turned on his heels and left the bridge, "I"ll go organize the boarding response teams" he said on the way out.

After the admiral left the bridge, Rachel turned back to 321,"order all defenses to stand down" she said, "uhh, sir, are you serious?" said 321. "Do I look like I'm joking?", replied Rachel, "follow my orders." "...yes sir", said 321, lowering the base defenses. After that the bridge was dead quite and everyone watched the object make it's approach, it had gotten much closer over the last few minutes and was now merely seconds from the base. "Impact in 3, 2, 1" Numbah 321 held up to his name and the object smashed into the base somewhere on the lower decks. By the time base had finished shaking, the whole bridge crew was already racing down stairs to check out the object, or in the case of sector V, to see if the person they hoped for was on it.

They reached the lower cafeteria and beheld a small cone shaped capsule, about the size of an escape pod, embedded in the wall. Already Numbah 141 and the clean up crews were hard at work, pulling the object out of the wall and sealing the hole. The object was definitely a ship of some kind, judging by the large engine cones at the back and the small view port across the front. "Alright nobody touch it until the science nerds get here" ordered Rachel. Just then the side of the pod opened. "Weapons up" yelled Numbah 141, instantly every operative in the room with a weapon had it aimed at the ship. A shadow crossed in front of the opened hatch. Everyone in the room gulped collectively, one kids ran out of the room screaming, "ALIENS!" Slowly but surely the shadow, emerging from the pod resolved into a familiar shape, one that everyone in the room recognized. "It's him", exclaimed Numbah 141, dumbstruck. And it was, until Numbah 1 fell bodily out of the ship and onto the floor, unconscious.

Everyone was silent, for all of three seconds until Numbah 362 broke the silence and screamed the name that was racing through everyones head, "NIGEL!". In an instant the medics on the scene surrounded Numbah 1, rushing him off to the med bay, with Rachel, sector V and Numbah 141 following in hot pursuit. Numbah 1 was dumped on to a stretcher and wheeled into the med bay, instantly a crack team of KND doctors and nurses surrounded him and began analyzing his condition. The rest of sector V and Numbah's 362 and 141 were forced to wait outside for about 20 minutes until a doctor came out to give the news. "IS HE OKAY", shouted Rachel and sector V "well.." stammered the doctor. Rachel began crying and hung her head, Numbah 141 put an arm around her shoulder, sector V looked down cast. "Hey aren't you guys kinda jumping to conclusions, I haven't said anything yet!" yelled the doctor. "Yeah", said Numbah 2, "but everyone knows something bad has happened when the doctor doesn't come right out and say everything is fine." "Well like I was saying", sighed the doctor, "physically he's fine, no burns, scratches or wounds of any kind." Everyone instantly perked up, "sooo, he's just fine?" asked Numbah 362, drying her eyes on her sleeve.

"Well, sort of", said the doctor, rubbing his head, "what he does have is a mild concussion, probably from the crash and so far when we have asked him questions about where he's been, well, he doesn't seem to remember anything. Everyone looked stunned, "so, he doesn't remember any of us?", asked Numbah 4. "No,no,no, he remembers the KND and the events before he disappeared just fine, it's just that he can't seem to remember anything about what he was doing while he was gone." This puzzled sector V, who all began chatting amongst themselves, while Rachel continued drying her eyes. Meanwhile, Numbah 141 scratched his chin in deep thought. "Well can we see him" asked Rachel. "Of course you can" said the doctor, holding open the door. Everyone rushed into the room, sector V and Numbah 362 where at Nigel's bedside in a second, Numbah 141 held back watching. Sector V and Numbah 362 were all over Numbah 1, asking him questions giving him hugs and welcoming him back in their own way. Numbah 1 was laughing and happily going along with it all, if a bit overwhelmed. "Curious", said the admiral under his breath, "most curious." It was a that point that Numbah 1 noticed Numbah 141 standing in the back. "Hey guys, who's this?" he asked. Numbah 141 came forward, a half smile on his face, "it's nice to finally meet you Numbah 1, I'm Numbah 141, admiral of the KND fleet." He shook Nigel's hand, "my name it Jack Schmitt." _Enjoy it while you can Confederate do__g, _thought the admiral, _this is all going to end very, very soon__._


	2. Chapter 2: Nigel's Return

**(Note: This Chapter has also been revised to match up with chapter 1; for previous viewer confusion.)**

**And here is Chapter 2, I forgot to do this in Chapter 1, but I own Numbah 141 and any non-cannon elements of this story as I invented them. However, I do not even come close to owning Kids Next Door.**

* * *

GG_: This is not good, his presence could upset all our plans._

GA: _Nothing has changed, as I told you, he lost his memory, any skill or training he_

_received while he was with the confederates will have been forgotten, as he is he_

_will be no match for what is to come._

GG:_ He is still Number 1, greatest KND operative to ever live, that is not_

_something to ignore._

GA: _It doesn't matter if he's number 1, number 13 or number anything, he will still fall_

_like the rest of them._

GG: _You sound confident admiral._

GA: _I am Arthurs, I am, after spending so much time in their little organization, I know_

_there is nothing they possess that can stop us, this "war" will be a one-sided massacre._

GG: _Now you just sound regretful._

GA: _I am, they don't deserve this... and I never wanted this._

* * *

**KND Moonbase: Med Bay (18 hours to X-Day)**

**Nigel's POV**

Nigel Uno sat upright in his hospital bed, rubbing his head with his hands and trying to order his thoughts. He had only been awake for about 10 minutes and he had already gone through a full range of emotions, ranging from happiness to shock to anger to confusion. Happiness because he had woken up to warm greetings from his best friends and his secret crush, shock from learning how much the Kids Next Door had changed while he had been gone, anger because he couldn't remember any of the events during his disappearance and confusion as to his current situation.

His first thought when they told him about the crash was that the cake ship that he had gotten into back in that canyon on Earth after the scavenger hunt, had accidentally crashed into the moonbase on it's flight from Earth. But, that was until they told him that he had been gone for over a year. He could still feel the shock from that revelation coursing through his body. _A whole year, _he thought, _My parents haven't seen me for over a year, what was I doing up there? _He had been told little since his awakening, only that he had been gone for almost a year and a half and some of the basic details of what had gone on in that time. Nigel was dying to ask more questions, but Rachel had taken the rest of sector V out of the med bay for a private conversation, leaving the only recently introduced admiral, Numbah 141 in the room with him. Nigel looked over at the admiral, who was sitting in an chair on the other side of the room reading a gaming magazine. The admiral was some what taller than the rest of Nigel's friends by about a few inches to a full head and had that air of professionalism to him that Numbah 60 carried around all the time. He had short cut, dark brown hair, a straight, serious face and grayish blue eyes that seemed much older than a kid his age should possess. He wore a uniform reminiscent of the KND dress uniform Nigel had worn when he received the KNDefense award during operation Q.U.I.E.T so long ago, only it was white and had threads of yellowish, gold fabric woven into it. Also, the admiral wore a grey, peaked cap like those worn by adult military officers, instead of a plunger with a tassel in it.

The admiral had spoken little to him, merely introducing himself and giving him a few bits of information about the recent changes in the KND before retreating to his chair. Nigel decided that if was going to get any answers to his questions that now would be a good time to start asking. He called over to the admiral, "so tell me, whats really been going in the KND while I'e been gone?" Numbah 141 looked up from his magazine and smiled thinly, "I'm surprised you haven't answered that question yourself already" he said in a slightly annoyed tone. His voice was deep and like his eyes, made him seem much older than he actually appeared, almost like a teenager. Numbah 1 scowled, he didn't like the vibes this kid was giving off, "no, I haven't figured it all out yet, I've only been awake for 10 minutes, so could you please just tell me what the heck has been going on around here!" The admiral sighed and put down his magazine, looking clearly irritated. "To put it simply, you've been replaced", he said slowly, in a very annoyed tone.

**KND Moonbase: Observation Deck**

Meanwhile outside the med bay, Rachel was deep into a heated argument with Numbah 5 while the rest of sector V stood on and watched. "When I first asked you if you knew anything about Numbah 1's disappearance I clearly remember you responding with a NO, care to revise that now?", Rachel was seething mad, deep down she was happy that Nigel had returned, but right now all she could focus on was her anger at being lied to. Abby groaned and tried her explanation one more time, "look Rachel.." "It's Numbah 362 to you right now", Rachel said angrily. Abby winced, rarely did Rachel insist that people use her number. "Alright Numbah 362, I know you want to know what happened to Nigel, but we really can't tell you!" "can't or won't?" said Rachel through gritted teeth, "I am your supreme leader and you are expected to share ALL information with me regardless of whether or not you made any promises to Numbah 1 before he left, I might be willing to forgive you keeping this from me if you would just tell me WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!"

Abby cringed, but she didn't back down, "we did make a promise to Numbah 1, but we also were forced to make promises to other people as well, people who apparently outrank you." "OUTRANK ME!" exclaimed Rachel, "do I need to repeat myself? I. AM. THE. SUPREME. LEADER! there is no one higher ranked than me!" "Look, all I can tell you is that there are people who outrank you", said Abby, "and Nigel was chosen to go work for them, they call themselves the Galactic Kids Next Door and no one on Earth is supposed to know about them", Abby shrugged, "I can't tell you any more because even we don't know." Rachel's anger subsided a bit, but she was still pissed off, "galactic level Kids Next Door?" she thought out loud, "does that mean they use aliens or something." "All we know is that they only pick the best operative from each planet and that was Nigel, we don't know anything else, honestly the last time we saw him he got in a GKND ship and flew off, we didn't even see any GKND operatives."

Rachel was still angry, but now she was equally contemplative. She said, "I'm guessing that means that Numbah 74.239 was working for the GKND." "Yeah", replied Abby, glad that Rachel was finally changing the subject, "he was the main link to Earth for the GKND, I think, Numbah Infinity was also working for them." "Son of gun, so that's why we could never find him after the treaty", swore Rachel, "I swear we searched the whole planet for him and nothing, well that explains that."

Abby took a chance and said, "and, Numbah 274 was working for them too." Rachel turned her head around to gape at her, she obviously could not believe what she was hearing. Abby held up her hands in defense, "le-me finish, le-me finish", she said. Rachel crossed her arms and nodded her head go, "Numbah 274 only turned on us because he was following the GKND's orders, according to Numbah Infinity, he was helping us from the teenz side the whole time." "Why do I have a hard time believing that", said Rachel in a disbelieving tone. "I know it sounds crazy, but isn't this whole thing crazy as it is?" asked Abby. Rachel sighed, "you've got that right." Abby then remembered something and asked, "hey Numbah 362.." "Rachel's fine now Abby", she cut in, with a small smile. Abby smiled as well, "Rachel, how did you know to order the defenses to stand down?" "I don't know, I just got this feeling is all", said Rachel, "it was weird, I just knew somehow."

Lost in thought again, Rachel turned around and started pacing the deck while Abby continued, "look sir, I understand how you feel about this, but I think we need to be focusing on the now instead of the then, Nigel's lost his memory and besides us there is no one on Earth who can tell you anything more about the GKND, we should focus on bigger questions right now, like why Numbah 1 would return without any reason." "Maybe he just got homesick?" said Numbah 2, "I know I would if I was stuck out in space for over a year." Rachel shook her head, "maybe, but thats not like Nigel to put personal desires before the mission, I know", her expression saddened. "Well then maybe he's on a mission", said Numbah 4, "it wouldn't be the first time Nigel's flown in and out on some random adventure." "Again, maybe", said Rachel, "but if so then why is his memory gone and why hasn't anyone come to pick him up." Rachel sighed again and suddenly seemed to lose strength, she leaned against the wall, overcome with a sudden wave of weariness, "I'm so tired of asking all these what-if questions." Abby put an arm around her shoulder for comfort, "It doesn't matter what happened, what matters is he's here and it doesn't look like he'll be leaving anytime soon." Rachel smiled at that, but it quickly turned into a frown, "sure, but that still doesn't answer the question, if he's not here to see us and he's not on a mission", she turned her head to stare out the viewport into the depths of space, "why did he leave?"

**KND Moonbase: Med Bay**

Nigel was baffled, "REPLACED?!" "In a manner of speaking", replied the admiral in a cold tone. He eyed Nigel, like he was trying to decide wether it would be worth it to hold this conversation. _Forget Numbah 60, this guys almost like Numbah 86, condescension and all, _thought Nigel. "After you disappeared", the admiral went on, "things got pretty tough for the KND, Fathers been on the warpath ever since you stole his pipe and... by the why what happened to that thing any way?" asked the admiral. "I think it might be in my ship... or maybe at my old treehouse" said Nigel, "I still can't remember. The admiral nodded and continued, "anyway, Father immediately stepped up his game after you left, I guess he thought we were hiding you or something." "He hit every KND treehouse worldwide, when he couldn't find you, he started launching massive attacks on the moonbase and even occupying free kid territory on Earth to try and lure you out of hiding, course he never listened to us when we told him that you weren't here." The admiral leaned back in his chair, his eyes glazed over and he stared off into the distance as if seeing right through Nigel, "it was a dark time, we were losing operatives left and right, either to decommissioning or in combat, our normal methods couldn't keep up with Father's brutal assaults."

"Then there was the Beach War", the admirals face grew downcast. "What happened then?" asked Nigel, his curiosity peaked. "Father occupied half of the beaches on the west coast of the U.S., he held every kid there hostage and tried to force us to give you up." "How do you play into this", asked Nigel, a bit apprehensive. "I was the one sent in to clear out the beaches. I got an army of operatives and quite the arsenal of 2x4 tech. This was before I was admiral, back when I was just an operative like everyone else." Nigel noticed the admirals fist clenching at his sides as he spoke though his face and voice remained level, "Father's AA guns shot every one of our ships out of the skies, we crashed with no air support, barely any weapons and no vehicles. We were forced to use the wreckage left over from the crashes to fashion makeshift weapons and vehicles to use instead, 2x4 tech from 2x4 tech, not much to work with." His voice finally clenched up at that last sentence, the admiral obviously did not have good memories from this conflict. "We had barely any vehicles after that and only basic weapons and artillery, we were forced to mount mass infantry charges against the adults positions, world war 1 style. Day after day, week after week for three months we did that over and over again."

The admiral glared up at Nigel his eyes angry and accusing. "Do you know how many operatives I lost during that war." "I don't.." started Nigel, "TWO HUNDRED" screamed the admiral, "I started with 400 operatives and I lost TWO HUNDRED in that war alone, we lost even more in battles before hand too." "Why are you getting angry at me though, it's not my fault", said Nigel, he was getting angry himself now, "I know I wasn't here but that doesn't mean that any of this was my fault directly." "True, but it was your disappearance that caused all this in the first place" yelled the admiral, he was on his feet now and his hands were firmly balled into fists. "What gives you the right to chuck duty and go prancing off on some intergalactic adventure while the rest of us are left behind to suffer Father's wrath!" "It's not like I had a choice", said Nigel, "I.. wait, how do you know about the GKND."

The admiral smirked, "I have my sources Nigel, you don't get to be in my position without having some connections." The admiral sighed and sat down heavily in his chair, he seemed to have burnt out his rage and he looked haggard. "After the war, I was the first to realize that the only effective way to combat a global threat was to have a global response system." The admiral had returned to his original composed state, though a bit worse for wear and was back to eyeing Nigel with a controlled, but angry expression. "We had a fleet already from the get go, but it was barely organized and we could only call upon operatives who were free from missions to fill it." The Admiral raised his head a bit higher before speaking the rest, "I was the one who organized a dedicated fleet, filled with operatives who's only job was to command and control KND ships. A constant and reliable support force." The Admiral lowered his head and sighed, then reaching for his magazine he said, "there's your answer, happy?"

Nigel was far from happy, but the last thing he needed was to make an enemy of the KND's newest commander on his first day back so he said, "yes, thank you for the information, I didn't realize that leaving the KND would cause so much damage and I realize that no matter how indirect I am to blame, so I'm sorry for all the trouble my absence has caused you." The admiral looked up from his feet, he no longer looked haggard or tired, in fact he looked rather lively and was grinning as a matter of fact, "now that's what I want to hear" he said, in a tone that was much more jowly than any Numbah 1 had heard him use before. The change in attitude was so unexpected that Nigel could only stammer and say "huh."

The admiral laughed, a deep throaty laugh that echoed in the small confined space. "Hahahaha, I really had you going there for a second didn't I?" he said. He chuckled, "no no, I was just testing you it all" he explained. "What..?" said Nigel, he didn't get any of what was going on here. "But.. wha...why?" "Look Numbah 1, don't get confused, deep down I am kind of angry at you for all that's happened, but I knew from the moment you left that none of this was truly your fault. Sure it is indirectly, but come on, this sort of thing happens all the time when you work with the KND. It's just that, well, I never knew you before you left and all that was left over was your legend, the famous Nigel Uno, leader of sector V, the greatest KND operative in the world. In my time I've come to learn that anyone with that kind of reputation is either a stuck up, condescending, know it all or is actually smart enough to appreciate their position and be modest about it." The admiral smiled, "and I'm glad to say that you fall right into that second category."

Nigel was baffled for the second time, but decided to accept it and instead grinned back and said "well it's nice to know I don't have to pin you down with Numbah 86." The admiral laughed again, "yes I did seem an awful lot like the ol decommissioner didn't I" he kept laughing, "you can guess we get into quite a lot fights, ol 86 and me." "I bet", said Nigel, still a bit baffled, "ironic since I'm part Irish", said the Admiral, his laugh subsiding to a chuckle. "One thing still bothers me though", said Nigel, "whats that?" asked the admiral. "Well you said that you I had been replaced, exactly, replaced from what?" asked Nigel. The admiral grunted in response, "well, lets just say that you might have played a bigger role than you were privy to" said the admiral. He sat back in his chair again, sighing, "things weren't the same in sector V after you left, let's just say the KND's star sector lost it's edge without their 'fearless leader'."

The admiral looked at the ceiling, "when it became clear that we couldn't rely on sector V any more to solve all our problems, thats when talk of the fleet first started picking up, we became what you and sector V were back in the day: the answer to everyones problems." The admiral looked back at Nigel and looked like he was about to say more when he heard a knock on the door, he turned his head then turned back and said, "seems like it's time for you to get reacquainted with your old pals again huh." He stood up and straightened his uniform, before walking out of the room he said, "times have changed Numbah 1, but it's nice to see you haven't." With that he walked out of the room. W_hat a strange operative and a strange boy, _thought Numbah 1 shaking his head and smiling, and thats how his friends found him when they burst back into the room seconds later.


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion in Antebellum

**It's been 2 chapters already, time for some 1/362, I will try to add new chapters on a regular basis, but now that school has started that will be more difficult now, please review.**

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GG: _The time is almost here, are you ready admiral?_

GA: _Ready as I'll ever be._

GG: Y_ou're not having second thoughts are you?_

GA: _Yes I am, I served with them for 3 years, you didn't, they feel so much like the old _

_Directorate that somedays it's like going back in time._

GG: _They are nothing like the old Directorate, they may have grown from it, but they _

_ were not shaped by it._

GA: _Neither were you._

GG:_ Hmph, you veterans are always getting in my hair about that._

GA:_ We experienced much more in the Revolution than anything you could ever _

_ have experienced out here._

GG: _Is that all this is? Sentimentality over these kids because of the old war._

GA: _No, I'm just afraid they'll be forced to experience what we had to._

**KND Moonbase: Observation Deck (15 Minutes to X-Day)**

Nigel walked along the edge of the Moonbase observation deck lost in thought. The doctors had discharged him with a case of amnesia, and had suggested that he try remembering everything, starting from the very beginning as an attempt to recall his memory. He squeezed his eyes close and thought as hard as he could, but it was no good, he couldn't remember a thing. He opened his eyes and thought about his last memory before everything got all fuzzy. _Fuzzy... _he thought curiously, _almost like a decommissioning wip... _"Hey Nigel!" a voiced yelled, shattering his train of thought, he looked up rather annoyed, but his annoyance disappeared as he saw the rest sector V walking towards him. "Hey guys", he said, trying to keep a smile on his face, for their sakes, "I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to catch up earlier, things were really crazy." "Aw don't sweat it Numbah 1", said Numbah 4 in a cheerful voice, "we're all just glad your back." "Yeah, so what was it like in space huh?" asked Numbah 3, obliviously. "Uuuh, didn't they tell you I forgot everything?" said Nigel in a confused voice, "well yeah, but I mean come on, when was the last time you forgot anything?" she said. "uuuh" said Nigel as he thought back to his relationship with Lizzie, "probably more than you remember Kuki." "Well, Numbah 5's just glad yo back", said Abby, a wide smile on her face, "things around here have been ten shades o crazy since you left." "So I heard", said Nigel thinking back to his conversation with the admiral, "you guys haven't had any problems while I've been gone have you?"

"Well.." said Abby, rubbing her arm, "lets just say things weren't the same while you were gone." "141 told me you guys lost your edge while I was gone, what happened?" asked Nigel in a confused tone, "I know that it was tough on you guys with me leaving but you guys were still the best, it wouldn't be like you to start slipping up." The rest of sector V looked uncomfortable, "we were a team Nigel", said Hoagie, "when you left we just couldn't function like we used to, it was like every time we went on a mission, every time we made a plan it had a whole in in it, because you weren't there." "Well, I'm here now old friend", said Nigel, placing a hand on Hoagie's shoulder, "and I don't intend on leaving anytime soon." "Speaking of that, do you know when there gonna let you come back to sector V?" asked Numbah 4, "we're dying to go on some missions like in the old days." "Well, the doctors released me with a case of amnesia and since they have no idea how to cure it, I guess all I have to do is to get Numbah 362's permission." "Well it looks like you'll get that chance real soon, cause here she comes now", said Abby, pointing down the corridor, where Rachel was walking towards them, Abby smirked, "come on guys, lets give Numbah 1 some privacy." The rest of sector V grinned and took off down the corridor in the opposite direction, leaving Nigel standing open mouthed in surprise, _how did they know that_, he thought.

"Hey, Nigel", Numbah 1 turned around to face Rachel, who was walking across the observation platform to him. Nigel snapped to a salute, "Numbah three sixty..", he started, Rachel cut him off, "oh come on Nigel, do you really have to do that every time I talk to you." Nigel grimaced, "sorry si... Rachel", he caught himself." He gave her a half smile, "old habits die hard", Rachel chuckled and said, "I guess, never mind though, how are you doing?" "Alright", replied Nigel, "just catching up with my sector." Rachel walked over to the railing with him, it reminded Numbah 1 of the time they had shared at the supah convention center during operation I.T. "I know they've been dying to talk to you, any luck remembering?" she asked, "nothing" he said.

He looked at her and she looked back at him. She was so beautiful with her blonde hair and her chocolate colored eyes. They both blushed, "you okay soldier?" she asked putting her hand on his shoulder. "I guess" he said smiling, putting his hand over hers. They smiled at each other and stood watching the stars for a while before Nigel looked back at her and said, "I was talking with the admiral earlier, is it really true that all those things happened because I disappeared." Rachel's smile faltered a little and she said in a pained tone, "yes, I don't like thinking about it, but yes because you left, things only got harder for us back here at home." Numbah 1 sighed and turned away from her, hanging his head he said, "you know I would never have left the Kids Next Door if had realized that I would have left such a mess behind." He looked back at her, "I guess you must be really mad at me for that." Rachel looked down at the floor and looked uncomfortable for a moment, then she said, "I know what the admiral said to you and I feel the same way, but like he said, I know you never would have done anything to harm the Kids Next Door." She looked up again smiling, "and right now, I'm just glad your back." "Me too", he said and hugged her, she hugged back.

They stood there for several minutes and probably would have stood there for more if Numbah 202 hadn't passed by the door and yelled, "hey Numbah 362, we need you up on the bridge and.. what is going on in here." Kimberly stopped and gaped at the two operatives, "uuuh..", Nigel and Rachel quickly pulled away from each other, blushing and Rachel said, "Umm, I'll be up there in a minute Numbah 202." Numbah 202 smirked and said, "take all the time you need sir", then she rushed up to the bridge to tell everyone about what she had seen. _Oh_ _m__an, this is definitely going on my blog_, she thought.

Nigel glanced at Rachel and still blushing said in a low tone, "well I guess duty calls." "Yeah" said Rachel, also blushing, she smiled and gestured toward the door, "well, shall we?" she said. "After you", said Numbah 1 bowing, Rachel giggled and headed toward the door, Nigel lifted his head and smiled, following her up to the bridge. Little did they know that it would be many weeks before either of them would smile again.

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**Foreshadowing like hell, I need to revise chapter 4, then it's going up, hopefully in the next few days. Get ready cause it's gonna be a long one and the story's really gonna start picking up.**


	4. Chapter 4: Wars Prelude

**Big thanks to appleduck and The messenger for the great comments. Believe me when I say we are just getting started with this story, took me a while to revise it, but here is chapter 4!**

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_There are others, others Numbah 362 doesn't even know about- _Numbah 274, Chad

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**KND Moonbase: Bridge (X-Day)**

Nigel and Rachel rushed onto the bridge, the rest of sector V as well as Numbahs 86, 141 were already there when they arrived. "Whats the situation, are we under attack?" asked Rachel as she jumped into her command seat. As Nigel stood next to Rachel he noticed an above average amount of operatives on the bridge, many of which he didn't recognize, puzzled he turned back to the action at hand.

"Sir, I don't really know whats going on" replied Numbah 321, a very confused expression on his face. "I was just reading some comics when the long range sensors picked an anomaly moving into the solar system, then the fleets sensors went heigh wire and started sounding all kinds of alerts and alarms for no reason."He turned around in his seat, looking extremely confounded, "I just don't know what to make of it." Rachel turned to Numbah 141, who Nigel noticed, looked awfully uncomfortable for some reason. "Well admiral, you designed a good deal of the new systems in the fleet, what can you say?" The admiral shrugged and said, "could be a glitch, I can't say anything for sure until we get some engineers to check out the sensor systems."

As he finished, one of the unknown operatives walked up to Jack and whispered something in his ear, the admiral instantly went pale and turned on Numbah 362, "you have to order all the defenses to stand down." His tone was stricken, Nigel noticed, he looked like he was under a lot of stress, nothing like the composed and totally in control commander who had spoken to him in the med bay. Rachel noticed it too, "something wrong Numbah 141?", she sounded suspicious, the admiral just shook his head in a noncommittal way, "look, you just have to order them to stand down, just listen to me please!", he almost shouted the last part.

Rachel slowly got up out of her chair and stared hard at the admiral, "Jack, what's going on here?" Nigel noticed the admiral's jaw clench, like he was trying to hold something down, Rachel noticed that as well and her stare turned into a fierce glare, "Numbah 141, as your Supreme Leadah, I order you to tell me what is going on!" The admiral sighed and hung his head, the operative who had spoken to him before walked up and said, "times up sir." Nigel saw it too late, he was already moving as the operative raised his S.C.A.M.P.P. and fired a laser burst into his chest.

The impact knocked Nigel across the room, where he crashed into a row of control consoles before slumping to the ground, the other operatives around the room were already moving before Nigel hit the floor. Numbah 35 ran forward and yelled, "Kids Next Door BATTLESTATI..WHOA!" he hadn't even finished his battle cry before a dozen more S.C.A.M.P.P. blasts flew from the line of operatives behind the admiral, several kids went down instantly and a few tried to return fire, but the ex-operatives were crack shots and before long every single one of the bridge crew besides sector V and Numbahs 362 and 86 were down for the count.

All the while the admiral had been yelling, "CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!", now he turned on the line of operatives, "I gave you men a direct order!" he yelled in a commanding voice. The leader of the operatives shrugged and said, "sorry sir, general's orders", an irritated look flashed across the admirals face as he said, "fine, half of you go man those stations, prepare for phase 2 and order all the Moonbase defenses to shut down, use Numbah 35's command codes, the rest of you keep your weapons on those operatives." The troops snapped to obey his orders, as the admiral turned back to the beaten operatives he said, "camos off." Instantly each of the operatives assisting the admiral were encased in a small aurora of light, which quickly dissipated, revealing a whole new picture all together.

Where two dozen KND operatives had once stood, now stood a line of stout and serious looking soldiers, wearing what looked like military grade combat armor and armed with some serious looking guns. The admiral himself also changed, his uniform became more pristine and professional, all gold thread and straight white fabric, with flat epaulets on his shoulders and black, shiny boots. His new look, coupled with the new aurora of command authority that seemed to radiate from his figure, gave him an extremely professional and military like appearance. He crossed the room with fast, determined steps, moving towards the holo-projector that held a constant 3D image of the Earth. Rachel was trying to help Nigel up and sector V had expressions on their faces that ranged from confusion to shock.

Only Numbah 86 stood her ground, blocking the admirals path. She had her M.U.S.K.E.T. out and had it pointed straight at Schmitt's chest, "I always knew there was something fishy about you", she said, her bearing spoke of determination and the admiral stopped and considered her. "I don't want to fight you Fanny", he said, a hint of regret in his voice, "this can all go peacefully if you just put the gun down and get out of my way." Numbah 86 scoffed, "fat chance traitor, the only place your going is the decommissioning chamber" she said it with a lot of arrogance and the admiral narrowed his eyes, "is that so", he flung out his hand and to everyones amazment, Fanny's M.U.S.K.E.T. flew out of her hands and right into the admiral's.

He smirked, "well I think you'll want a new side arm before you do anything like that" he said, Numbah 86 could only stare, dumbfounded at him as the admiral walked right past her. Rachel had gotten Nigel on his feet by then and they to watched the unbelievable scene, _since when can he use the force _thought Nigel. The admiral was at the comms station now and he pushed Numbah 35's unconscious body out of the way before grabbing the broadcast mike, "this is Grand Admiral Jack Schmitt to all USF forces, phase 1 is complete commence phase 2." Outside the Moonbase, small flickers of light appeared as hundreds of ships jumped into the system at faster than light speeds, the admiral stared out the window, hands behind his back as a massive armada began forming up around the Moon. He frowned suddenly, a look crossed his face as if he had forgotten something, meanwhile Rachel and Nigel had managed to cross the room to stare out the window as well and upon seeing the massive fleet, they gaped in dumbstruck awe.

"Wh.. wha... what is that?" Nigel blurted out, surprisingly the admiral turned to him and said in a confused voice, "thats what I want to know." Going over to the center of the bridge, he grabbed an orb from his belt pressed a button on it, tossing it to the floor. Seconds later, the orb burst to life and a life sized holographic image of another kid formed around it. The admiral immediately started talking, "Arthurs what the hell is going on here, the invasion was scheduled to take place a month from now and why are all these ships here, I thought you only had a small force?" The holographic kid, crossed his arms and stared at the admiral.

He wore a uniform similar to Jack's but with green and red colors instead of white and gold. General Arthurs said, "things have changed admiral, I had to move up the schedule, I'm sorry you weren't informed", Arthurs smirked and looked over at Numbah 1 and sector V, he walked forwards and the hologram mimicked his action, crossing the bridge toward sector V. Arthurs stared a Nigel then said, "so this is where our top agent went to, I'm surprised you evaded capture for as long as you did, but you see", he said, gesturing out the window, "despite your meddling the invasion force is still here and your efforts have been in vain." "What the hell are you talking about Arthurs, your agent, he was a Confederate agent." Arthurs looked back at the admiral and grinned, "come now admiral, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out whats going on here." The admiral thought it over for a second and then disbelievingly stammered out the only answer, "you.. your a Confederate agent!?" "BINGO" said Arthurs, Schmitt still didn't seem able to comprehend what was happening, "but.. you've been a general for years, you fought in the war, how could you betray us like this!" "There's a reason they call it a deep cover agent", replied Arthurs nonchalantly, "but we can't have you knowing that can we."

He raised his arm and the line of soldiers shifted their aim to point at the admiral as well, Jack stared in disbelief before turning back to Arthurs, "well you certainly have been busy haven't you, I'm surprised you got this many agents inside the Federation." "Agents? Everyone here is on the side of the Confederacy", said Arthurs, "this isn't even a Federation fleet, though we did acquire a sweet amount of tech from them." Arthurs focused his attention on Schmitt now, narrowing his eyes he said,"you've come full circle haven't you Jack, but this time I will make certain we finish the war."

"Could someone please tell me what the heck is going on around here!" yelled Nigel, neither the admiral nor the general took any notice, Jack had his eyes narrowed and he growled out every word as he said, "I will not allow this Arthurs, there's reason why we never came back, not that I expect a post born like yourself to understand", Arthurs seethed, "you fucking veterans and your pious bullshit, the only reason we never returned is because you never had the stomach to finish the adults when we had the chance." The general flourished his arms indicating the surrounding area, "I will not make that mistake, today will forever be known as X-day, the day of our great invasion, the day we finally wiped adults from the face existence." Arthurs walked over to window as he continued, "history will always remember this day and both Federation and Confederacy will remember me as the commander who finally brought about the extermination of the adult menace.""You are too full of yourself", said Schmitt.

Meanwhile outside the Moonbase, the KND fleet was beginning to respond to the Confederate invasion force, small specks of light flashed from their guns, firing lasers and missiles at the larger Confederate ships. Arthurs gave an order off screen, "open fire on the fleet", "WHAT!" screamed Jack, "DAMN IT ARTHURS NO!" Outside the Confed ships turned their guns on the small KND fleet and opened up, a barrage of explosive slugs, high yield laser fire and rail gun shots hammered into the KND fleet, a dozen voices sounded over the still active comm system. "WE'RE GETTING RIPPED APART UP HERE! DAMN IT KEEP FIRING KEEP FIRING! THERE'S TOO MANY, WE CAN'T EVEN DENT THEM! THE BRIDGE IS BREACHED, REPEAT WE HAVE A BREA..AAAAHHHHH _(large explosion). _WE NEED BACK UP WE NEED BACK UP, DAMN IT MOONBASE CAN'T ANYONE HEAR ME! AAAAAGGGGHHHH! (_more explosions)_ As the sounds of the dying fleet blasted through the comms system, the admiral looked like he was on the verge of tears, he grabbed a nearby comm mike and screamed into it, "ALL SHIPS, THIS IS THE ADMIRAL, BREAK OFF BREAK OFF, REPEAT ALL SHIPS RETREAT TO THE PLANET!" Outside a few ships escaped the carnage and flew as fast as they could back to the Earth, the rest were simply annihilated by the shear amount of fire pouring into them. Arthurs watched on with an indifferent look, the KND operatives on the bridge, some of which had just woken up could only stare in horror as hundreds of dead bodies floated towards the Moonbase amid the expanding debris field of what had been the fleet. The admiral had his fists clenched and his eyes squeezed shut, then as if he couldn't hold it in anymore he whirled on Arthurs and screamed, "DAMN YOU ARTHURS, WHY!"

Arthurs shrugged and said, "war has casualties admiral, you of all people should know this and now your about to become one of them." Arthurs turned to the line of Confed soldiers and gave sharp orders, "execute the admiral and the rest of the bridge crew, I will be on the Moonbase shortly to commence phase 3." "Yes Sir" said the soldiers, the holo orb then went dead and clattered to the deck, the soldiers leveled their weapons at the operatives and the admiral, "READY" shouted the sergeant. "Well Nigel, it looks like this is it", said Rachel, she reached for his hand, he grabbed her's first, "I want to say before we die th..." "NO", the admiral spoke up in a firm voice, "nobody else is gonna die here, not if I have anything to say about it!" He whipped out the sword and pistol he had on his belt and lunged at the line of troops. "FIRE" yelled the sergeant and the soldiers opened up with a line of automatic fire at the admiral.

But he wasn't there, he had vaulted into the air, over the soldiers and as he touched the ground he lashed out with his sword and slashed a troopers rifle in half before smashing him in the face with the butt of his pistol, then he pivoted and brought his sword across his chest in a sweeping motion, slashing through another troopers armor before burying his pistol in the gap and pulling the trigger. The other soldiers tried to stop him but he was too quick, he dodged and weaved, slashed and back handed, cutting a swathe through the line of troops. In only a few seconds the admiral stood victorious, without a scratch on him, above a pile of heavily maimed, but still very much alive, Confederate soldiers.

He gestured towards the in enamored operatives and said, "well are you coming or not?" The operatives young brains took a few seconds to realize that they were being given an escape route, but when they did they bolted for the exit, with the admiral in the lead. Sector V followed, helping along a still shocked Numbah 86. Numbah 1 and Numbah 362 were the last to leave to the bridge. They looked back at the bridge and Nigel said, "I have no idea what just happened, whats going on or who the heck that guy in the hologram was, but I have have a feeling that this day is gonna get much worse." "Totally", said Rachel in an exhausted voice, as she and Nigel dashed after the rest of the operatives. Little did they know how right they were for X-day had just begun.

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**Phew, that was a lot to write, I actually had to rewrite this two times before I got it the way I wanted it. Don't worry, I'm not going to be putting any more Star Wars references into this story, and he can't use the force, its just something else. For now, lets just say its a little related to how Father can use his powers. Also, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, GA in those earlier conversations was Jack and GG was Arthurs. Chapter 5 will be coming out soon, but I'm going away for the weekend and I won't have a chance to write any so except it sometime next week. Until then, ADIOS! and keep reviewing!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Lunar Escape

**Well here it is CHAPTER 5, they just keeping getting longer and longer. This is by far my longest one yet. Thanks go out to Appleduck for keeping up with my story, I appreciate the encouragement and I may just take your idea to heart. Well here is Chapter 5!**

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_The war wasn't just about fighting, it was also about running away like little girls- _Numbah 1918, 2nd in command during the Beach War

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**KND Moonbase: Hanger Bay (1 hour into X-Day)**

Rachel and Nigel ran down the corridors of the Moonbase in hot pursuit of the admiral and the rest of the bridge staff. The rest of the Moonbase operatives must have either heard what was going on outside or had been warned by the bridge staff, because Nigel and Rachel saw no one in the hallways. When they reached the hanger bay the admiral and all the other operatives in the Moonbase were already there, boarding ships and loading supplies. In the corner of the hanger bay, a small group of survivors from the fleet, no doubt having arrived in escape pods a few minutes earlier, were milling about in confusion. One of the officers from the fleet was in the middle of a heated discussion with the admiral when Rachel and Nigel walked up.

"...I warned you about this Jack," said the officer, "we should have been more prepared, you really should have pushed more for that independent command station when we had the time!" "Time is something we don't have right now Fritz", responded the admiral, "and now is not the time to focus on what ifs, we need to warn the rest of the KND before Arthurs starts hitting the planet."

"Ahem", Rachel coughed loudly to get their attention and both operatives looked over at her, Nigel realized when he saw the other officer's face that he didn't recognize him either. He was in the process of bring up his S.P.I.C.E.R., when Jack motioned for him to stop. "It's okay he's with us", the admiral looked over at the other officer, "aren't you Fritz?"

"All the way sir", said the officer grinning. Nigel took a second to take in the new operative. He had on the same uniform as Jack, only in grey colors and lacked some of the more decorative touches like the epaulets. His cap was similar to the admiral's, but also lacked the finery. He had on black boots and there was what looked to be a modified KND M.U.S.K.E.T. on his belt as well as a sword similar in design to the one Jack had used minutes earlier. He had shaggy light brown hair, deep blue eyes and his face was haggard and worn, no doubt from combat.

Fritz, noticing Nigel's scrutiny, extended his hand, trying to manage a smile, "I'm Fritz Washington, Numbah twenty five fifty two, second in command of the fleet", he frowned sadly, "or I was" he added. Nigel decided that he could trust the kid and shook his hand, "I'm sorry for your loss", he said, trying to make it sound sincere. Fritz nodded sadly, though he couldn't manage any words. Jack put a hand on Fritz's shoulder then motioned for him to go join the other fleet operatives, turning back to Rachel he said, "what is it Rachel, we're kinda of busy at the moment."

"KINDA BUSY!", Rachel erupted, "YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME YOUR BUSY AFTER THAT FIASCO ON THE BRIDGE!" Jack grimaced, "yeah, that, look there will plenty of time for explanations later, but right now we need to get out of here and hook up with the rest of the KND." "What** I **need is to understand what the heck going on here, and you are going to tell me everything right here right NOW!" yelled Rachel.

Schmitt grimaced, "look Rachel, this really isn't the time.." "It's Numbah 362 to you traitor," she cut him off, "and I think now is the perfect time, so spill!" Jack groaned, "listen, we really don't have time for this, I understand what your going through right now but..." "Don't patronize me!", yelled Rachel, "the entire fleet was just vaporized before my eyes, you levitated Numbah 86's M.U.S.K.E.T. right out of her hand and then we all almost died! I demand to know what the hell is going on!"

Nigel winced, he had never heard Rachel use curse words before, it was a habit that operatives tried to avoid as it set them apart from the teenagers. Then he remembered something else from the bridge and stepped forward to ask, "I want to know something too, what did that kid in the green outfit mean when he said I was his top agent? You said earlier that you knew about the GKND, so what do you know about me?"

"The GKND is a lie", replied the admiral, "and I will tell you when I see fit, right now you need to do exactly as I say if we are going to survive this." Rachel gritted her teeth in anger and frustration, "I'm the Supreme Leadah of the KND, I don't take orders from you, now I order you tell me what I want to know!" "Well seeing as how I'm a traitor now, I guess that means I don't have to take orders from you anymore", shot back Jack.

"Fine", said Rachel grabbing Nigel's S.P.I.C.E.R., "if your a traitor then that means your the enemy, so again, tell what I want to know or I'll shoot you." The admiral stared at her, "okay, one, I don't find being shot in the face with chili rays to be that threatening, two, why are we even fighting over this, I'm on your side dammit!", yelled Jack, his temper flaring. He gave a frustrated sigh and relented saying, "look Rac.. Numbah 362, I promise I'll explain everything later, but now is really not the time, we have to get out of here before more soldiers show up which is probably gonna happen any second now."

"Rachel, please, let it go, for now at least" said Nigel, laying a hand on her shoulder, eyeing the admiral at the same time, "and you better come clean Jack, or I'll make you regret it." "I promise, everything will be revealed in due time, but now we need to leave this base" the admiral turned to go, "wait" said Rachel, he turned around, "we can't just abandon the Moonbase!" "We don't have any choice", replied Jack in an irritated tone, "honestly I thought that you would have grasped this by now."

He gestured around the hanger, "there is nothing here that can stop the fleet outside, staying here would be suicide", "but all of our records are here, all of our files, tactics and the Codemodule are here" said Rachel, "we can't just leave them for those... whatever you called them to come and take them." "The records will be worthless to Arthurs, he knows enough about you already without them, as for the Codemodule..." Jack drew it out of his pack, grinning "I've already got you covered there."

He tucked it back into the pack on his back and sealed the lid, "now, lets go." "Where though?" said Nigel, "the Moonbase is our most heavily defended treehouse, the only other base with the defenses to rival it is the Arctic Training Base." "And that" said Jack, turning around, "is where we are going." Rachel and Nigel looked at each other and then followed him across the hanger to a waiting S.C.A.M.P.E.R., where Numbah 2552 was busy talking to some other fleet operative who had been working on it.

When Jack approached, Fritz saluted him and started to report, "this is the last of the new fleet S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s" he said, "all the other ones either went down with the ships they were on or are at the rendezvous point in the arctic." He grimaced, "damn Arthurs, you warned us this day would come, but not like this, not like this." Washington seemed to lose his strength from the effort of talking, he leaned against the side of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. before continuing, "I hope you realize that we'll never get out of this base with Arthurs' fleet camped right outside, you know what has to be done, right Jack?"

Rachel and Nigel caught the end of that and Rachel looked at Jack, "what? what has to be done?" she asked, Jack grimaced and his expression turned somber, "I was hoping you wouldn't say that", he said. Jack walked over to a nearby crate, hopped on top of it and began yelling for attention, when everyone looked at him he said, "alright, listen up, your not going to like what I have to say, but it has to be done." It seemed to take quite and effort for Jack to say his next words, "I need a group of volunteers to stay and defend the Moonbase while we escape."

Immediately every operative started talking, many of them yelled their disapproval at the admiral, Rachel's voice carried above them all, "ARE YOU CRAZY, YOU JUST SAID THAT TO STAY WOULD BE SUCIDE! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ANY OF US TO MAKE THAT SACRIFICE!" The operatives intensified their verbal assault, some of the more irate operatives began to brandish weapons at the admiral. "**QUIET**!", roared the admiral and instantly every noise in the hanger ceased, except for the sound of the fleet operatives, who were still tinkering with their ships.

"I realize how difficult a decision this is for you, but I am going to lay this out for you as plainly as possible." He gestured towards the space outside the hanger, "right now a fleet of warships, better defended and much more powerful than anything we have is camped outside this base. Any ship that leaves this hanger will be immediately destroyed by those warships, even if we leave all at once there are too many of them for us to evade."

The admiral stared down at the gathered operatives and continued, "the only way any ship will escape this base is if someone mans the defenses long enough to draw the fleets fire and open up a hole in the blockade." Jack sighed again, his somber expression turning firm once more, "I will not ask any one of you to make this sacrifice and if there are no volunteers, then I will man the defenses on my own." "NO", a voice spoke out over the crowd, the operatives and Jack turned to see a still wobbly Numbah 35 being supported by Numbah 23.

"I don't know what I saw up on that bridge", said Numbah 35, "I can't say that I know who's side your on, but I know one thing, your no friend of whoever is attacking us." Numbah 35 pushed away from Numbah 23 to stand on his own before continuing, "and I have a feeling that we're going all the help we can get before this thing is over", Numbah 35 took a deep breath, "therefore, I will volunteer to stay."

A multitude of voices sprang from the crowd of operatives, shocked, curious and disbelieving voices, but the admiral's cut through them all, "I'm not worth more than any other operative or soldier on this base 35, my life is no more important than any of yours." Jack jumped down from his crate and walked over to Numbah 35, "you don't have to do this", he said. "It's my choice", replied Numbah 35, he tried to take a step forward but lost his balance. Jack caught him by the arm and steadied him.

He smiled, "you remind me of someone I used to know, someone just as stubborn and brave as you are", his smile fell, "are you sure?"Numbah 35 grinned, "I'd be one heck of way to go out and besides, I think after what happened on the bridge, I'm due for some redemption." The admiral smiled again and grasped Numbah 35's arm, "well best of luck to you then, I don't think I ever caught your name though."

Numbah 35 grasped the admiral's hand and shook it saying, "it's Bartie, Bartie Stork, and do me a favor, if I don't make it, tell my parents what happened here." "I will bartie, I will" said the admiral and Nigel thought he say tears forming in the admiral's eyes, he looked away before he could tell. "I'm staying too", piped up Numbah 23, Bartie looked at her with shock, "no way Virginia, your getting out of here." "Dream on Bartie", replied Numbah 23 firmly, "if your staying I'm staying, period." Bartie looked like he wanted to object further but stopped and smiled, "thanks", he said and grasped her hand.

A few other operatives agreed to stay behind and support Bartie. As the other operatives boarded the last ships out of the base, Rachel turned back to Numbah 35 and tried to say something, but all she could get out was, "good luck soldier", "likewise sir" said Bartie, he and Numbah 23 watched as the ships sped out of the hanger bay and out towards the menacing line of warships. Bartie and Virginia looked at each other and nodded, then turning back to the other operatives Bartie said, "alright boys and girls, we've got a job to do, so lets give these guys the fight of their lives!"

* * *

**Confederate Flagship C.W.S. Harbinger: Bridge**

Arthurs stared out through the viewport in the Harbinger's bridge, watching the Moonbase. As he watched a few KND ships rocketed out of the hanger bays, towards his fleet. "Sir", said a nearby officer, "scanners have picked up 30 KND ships headed straight for our center line, shall we engage?"Arthurs leaned back in his command chair, smiling wickedly, the exchange with Jack had gone over perfectly, now he would go down in history as the boy to get the last word in over the greatest Federation commander in history.

_As soon as the Confederacy starts writing the history books _he grumbled to himself, still there was nothing that could go wrong now and he was confident that the token force of ships headed towards his fleet was nothing more than the KND's attempt at a final glorious charge. A doomed charge to say the least, _honestly_, he thought, _that whole The Kids Next Door never quite jargon is total garbage, you never do something like this in a real battle_. Confident in his victory, Arthurs was content to relax in his command chair. That was until multiple high yield laser blasts began flashing past his ships.

"SIR, the Moonbase is opening fire!" reported his weapons officer, _No duh you imbecile _though the general, on the outside he said, "return fire, all batteries!" _A bit excessive, but there's no harm in a little shock and awe, _he thought. Then he remembered the ships headed towards his fleet and grinned,_ So Jack, you thought you could distract me by leaving some poor fools to fight to the death over some airless rock did you, well we'll see about that. _

"Divert two squadrons of fighters to deal with the approaching ships, order the fleet to concentrate all fire on the Moonbase" ordered Arthurs, "surgical fire only, we need it intact." Once again confident in his victory, Arthurs again relaxed in his chair, content to watch his fleet slaughter the last of the KND space forces.

* * *

**KND Fleet S.C.A.M.P.E.R: Lunar Orbit**

Jack grappled with the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s controls as he attempted to evade the Confederate fleet's latest barrage. Around him the thirty or so KND ships attempted similar maneuvers as cannon fire flashed around them. Each ship was loaded with at least two dozen KND operatives and that only made flying all the more difficult.

As Jack struggled to control the already overburdened ship, a bit of movement caught his eye. A squadron of fighters was barreling towards the raggedy KND formation. "Crap", Jack cursed under his breath, he grabbed the com mike from the control panel and keyed in the frequency for the other ships, "heads up people, we've got fighters inbound." Behind him, the rest of the ship's passengers heard the message and started to get nervous, Numbah 2 especially.

He started thinking back to his dogfight's with the Kid, _there's no way this rust bucket can out run fighters, not in this condition,_ he thought, he kept it to himself though, there were new recruits on the ship and it wouldn't do to frighten them in the middle of a battle. Besides the assortment of recruits, the rest of sector V along with Numbah 86 and 362 were also crammed into the back of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Despite the fact that they were in space, a lot of them looked like they were starting to get queazy. _Huh, wait till we reach the atmosphere_, thought Numbah 2, grinning. Then he remembered that he was in the room as well and he groaned,_ aww crud!_

Outside the KND ships broke formation as the fighter squadrons roared straight towards them, rapid fire lasers tore through the space around them and the operatives heard more than a few bangs from direct hits. "Will we be okay?" asked one of the younger operatives.

Jack grunted, "this is a fleet S.C.A.M.P.E.R., not some old sector model, I designed these things myself, we'll be fine." Just then a large explosion on the right smacked into the ship's hull, sending it whirling into a forward spin. The younger operatives onboard screamed and the veterans wisely tightened their seat belts. "Ok maybe we won't be fine", said Jack as he righted the ship. "Can't this bucket move any faster", yelled Numbah 86.

Jack gritted his teeth,"I'm trying my best, but there's no way I can evade all of them with this much weight", he grinned over his shoulder, "anyone wanna lighten the load?" Numbah 86 slapped him on the back, "NOT FUNNY" she yelled, "right, sorry" said Jack returning his attention to the controls. "Maybe you should let me drive", said Numbah 2, "I am the best pilot in the Kids Next Door." Everyone in the room scoffed at him, except the admiral who just grunted again, "one, who the heck do you think you are and two, no way! I've been flying ships since before you were born sky boy!"

"Wait, Wha.." said Numbah 2, but he was cut off as an especially loud bang reverberated through the hull and caused the ship to tilt to the side. "SHIT, that one was too close" swore the admiral, "armors not gonna be able to take much more of this, you guys better put on some space gear, just in case we get a hull breach." "We don't have enough suits" said Rachel, "THEN PRIORITIZE!" yelled the admiral as he swung the ship into a barrel roll.

The operatives were thrown off their feet and fell bodily onto the floor, as Jack righted the ship again a harsh beeping could be heard from the console. "Ahh crud, they have missile lock, hang on I'm gonna have to do something dangerous" said Jack as he threw the ship into a clockwise downward spin. The operatives screamed as the image of a Confederate warship filled the screen. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YA STUPID BOY!" yelled Numbah 86, her voice sounding more afraid than angry, "saving our skins" yelled back the admiral.

Just the ship was about to crash, Jack swung them into a perfect sharp turn, flying the ship right above the deck of the warship and straight towards the bridge. All the operatives crowded around the viewport screaming as the view of the bridge quickly filled the whole screen. They got so close that the operatives could see inside the bridge and watched as the terrified Confed soldiers inside began screaming and racing towards the exit. "HOLD ON" yelled Jack and at the last second he flung the ship upwards, the operatives didn't see the missile hit, but they felt the explosion from it as the shock wave smashed into the back of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

The force of the blast propelled the ship forward at even greater speed as they cleared the top of the warship and were once again flying straight and true towards the Earth. Everyone on the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. breathed a collective sigh of relief, "we made it" said a surprised Numbah 2, "we're done yet, look" said Nigel, pointing towards the screen. Another Confederate warship was blocking their way, gun batteries aimed directly at them. "Aww you have got to be kidding me!" yelled the admiral.

Then the broadside of the warship lit up as a laser fire washed over it's shields. "Where is that coming from" said Rachel, "look!" exclaimed Nigel, from the Earths surface, long beams of laser fire were streaming up and slamming straight into the Confederate fleet, which was too busy engaging the Moonbase to return fire. "Haha, good ole Jonathan, he managed to get the guns online!" exclaimed Jack. "Who's Jonathan?" asked Nigel.

"Numbah 1918, he was Jack's second in command during the Beach War and now he's the head trainer for the KND fleet marines", replied Rachel a smile working it's way across her face, "he works with Numbah 60 down at the arctic base", she turned to the admiral, "he was in on this too wasn't he and what do you mean he got the guns working?" she questioned. "Rachel, everyone officer in the fleet was in on this from the beginning", said Jack as he brought the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. down into the Earth's atmosphere. "WHAT!" exclaimed Rachel angrily, Jack grinned, "boy, do I have a lot to tell you!"

* * *

**Confederate Flagship C.W.S. Harbinger: Bridge**

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT THROUGH" screamed Arthurs, the squadron leader on the screen he was yelling at looked extremely uncomfortable as he said, "it's like I said sir, whoever was flying that ship pulled off some really fancy moves, he even managed to take out one of our frigates with just one missile!" "I know" said Arthurs, seething, "no thanks to you, we are now down one ship and no doubt most of the KND personnel on that base just escaped down to the planet, all because of your INCOMPETENCE!"

The pilot's attitude turned stubborn, "we did manage to destroy three of their ships and my patrols are still combing the wreckage but the body count is at an estimated 72." "72 dead KND _operatives_ is of no use to me if their commanders didn't die with them" yelled back Arthurs, "and especially that bastard Schmitt, whom I bet you didn't get either." "Uhh, umm, no sir" replied the pilot, shamefully, "but the other squadron might of gotten him."

"I have already spoken with the commander of the second squadron, they were apparently too busy avoiding the sudden volley of cannon fire from the planet's surface to do anything about the escaping ships, the body count remains at 72 lieutenant, I expect better from you next time", finished Arthurs, he cut the connection before the officer could reply. Arthurs seethed in silent rage for a few minutes while he analyzed the situation. Everything had been going perfectly until Jack had seen fit to throw a wrench into his plans.

Arthurs stared out the view screen at his assembled fleet and grimaced, the attack from the Moonbase had been easily repelled and every one of the base's defense guns had been turned to molten slag, even now a battalion of Confederate soldiers was storming the base, but the attack had caught them off guard and several of his support ships were damaged. Then one of the KND pilots had pulled off some fancy flying and managed to cripple one of his frigates and to top it all off, volleys of anti-orbital laser fire were now poring into his fleet.

Arthur's turned to his com officer, "damage report" he ordered, the officer, looking very apprehensive, replied, "we're still getting in reports from most of our ships, but it looks like those anti-orbital guns are firing Federation military grade particle lasers, they're doing a number on our escort class ships, but our capital ships shields are holding so far" _Damn Schmitt, he's probably been leaking Federate tech to these kids for years , _thought Arthurs, "order the capital ships to form a screen around the planet and for the escort ships to assume mop up operations until needed", "yes sir!" the com officer saluted and returned his attention to his station.

Arthurs sat back in his chair, calculating, _if Schmitt is on the planet's surface then this war is about to reach a whole new level. Now_, _if I was Schmitt where would I go first_, Arthurs thought to himself, then he snapped his fingers. Turning to his navigation officer he ordered, "move the Harbinger into orbit over Antarctica and order the troops to prepare for immediate ground assault!"

"Yes sir!", replied the officer, Arthurs turned back to the com officer, "get the rest of the ship commanders on station, order them to move their ships into position and set up the orbital screen." "Yes sir", replied the com officer, Arthurs got up out of his chair and moved to the window, staring out into the blackness of space as his ships leapt to preform their maneuvers.

_Now Jack, lets see how long that pitiful ice block you call a base can stand up to an orbital bombardment, _Arthurs returned to his console and checked the holo-interface, there was a message from the commander of the infantry force that had taken the Moonbase, requesting orders on what to do with the operatives they had captured.

Arthurs readied a reply message, "execute all the operatives except their commander, then put him in the base's brig." Arthurs sent the message then turned back to the com officer, "order all ships to prep their forces for ground assault, the invasion begins now!" "YES SIR!", grinning evilly, Arthurs turned back to the view screen and watched the drama unfold, _it's time to show this world what we are truly capable of._

* * *

**KND Fleet S.C.A.M.P.E.R: On Approach to KND Arctic Base**

Jack skillfully piloted the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. through the ever present banks of snowing clouds that lay like a blanket over the Arctic Base. A voice piped through one of the ships speaker, "attention S.C.A.M.P.E.R C324, this is Arctic Base, please identify, over." Jack grabbed the com mike, "this Numbah 141 aboard S.C.A.M.P.E.R. C324, I have operatives from Moonbase on board and am requesting permission to land, over."

"Roger that Numbah 141", the unmistakable voice of one of the 44 twins piped through the speaker, "we read you loud and clear, proceed to landing bay 3, welcome back to Earth." "Thanks", replied Jack, "tell Numbah 60 and 1918 that I have the Supreme Leadah on board that she requests both of their presences immediately in the landing bay, over", "roger that Numbah 141, over and out." Jack hung up the mike, while Rachel stared at him, "okay, so what happens now?" she asked in a tone as cold as ice.

Jack put the ship on auto pilot and turned back to her, "simple, you tell them what went down on the Moonbase, but leave out the parts about me, Arthurs and the Confederacy, we don't need to start a panic here." Rachel stared disbelievingly at him, "you just expect me to lie to all the other operatives, to tell them only part of the truth when theres an enemy force about to invade our planet!" "It's for their own good", said Jack, "the standard KND operative is trained to fight adults and deal with the daily hardships of basic combat, none of them are trained to fight prolonged wars or deal with enemies who are prepared to kill them."

Nigel walked up beside Rachel and said to the admiral, "well if you won't tell everyone about them and how they operate and fight, then how are we supposed to beat them!" "Right now, I'm not even sure if we can fight them", replied the admiral, he seemed to collapse in on himself and sank into the pilot's chair, "there was supposed to be more time, if we had had more time then maybe we could have prevented this from happening."

"Who is we and what are you talking about!" burst out Nigel, "how are we supposed to understand anything you say when your being so vague and mysterious!" Jack opened his mouth speak but then seemed to think better of it and simply eyed Nigel, then he said, "your right, I need to at least explain some of this to you or else we may never have a chance of fighting back, but there are some things I cannot tell." "Can't or won't" asked Rachel, "both" said Jack, he was about to continue, but then a bump reverberated through the hull, "we've landed", he remarked.

He touched a button on a small device mounted on his wrist and instantly his uniform disappeared, replaced by the one he had worn before the debacle on the Moonbase bridge. Rachel and Nigel simply stared at him, having already seen enough today to fill their astonishment quotas, there was little more that could surprise them.

"How did you do that" asked Nigel, with a hint of curiosity in his voice, "holographic camouflage", replied Jack, as he adjusted his uniform in a randomly mounted mirror, "it projects a solidified hologram over your existing clothes, allowing them to change into any thing you can imagine, basic Federation equipment."

He turned back to other operatives, "look, I'll try to find some time soon to explain everything, but until then you must behave like I'm still just the admiral of the fleet." He went to open the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s door, but it was suddenly thrust open and a very angry looking operative holding a M.U.S.K.E.T jumped inside. "FREEZE TRAITOR!" yelled Numbah 60, pointing his gun in Jack's face, who could only say, "aww crud."

* * *

**And there you have it, my first cliff hanger. I will try to keep releasing these on a weekly basis, but it's getting tough to do this and keep up with my school work. Don't worry I won't stop, but it may take longer for me to get these out in the future. Chapter 6 will be next week and expect to get a few answers regarding Schmitt's past and the Confederacy. As alway please review!**


	6. Chapter 6: Falling Skies

**Well here is Chapter 6, got this one out early, its a short one. Be warned, there some dark stuff at the end. Some more mysteries surrounding Schmitt and the Federation, but no answers, those come soon!**

* * *

_In the beginning you try and save everyone, by the end you feel grateful for the few who lived- _Numbah 141/ Jack Schmitt

* * *

**Confederate Flagship C.W.S Harbinger: In orbit over Antarctica**

Arthurs, watching several screens on his console's holo-interface, oversaw the fleet's final preparations for the invasion. As he watched, hoards of Confederate soldiers and legions of tanks, mechs and mobile artillery were loaded into massive landing ships headed for the surface. Arthurs took a moment to look up from his console and take in the scenery from his command dais. He looked around the semi-circular bridge that had been his home away from home for so many years.

He knew it so well that he could give a detailed and completely accurate description of every person, console and piece of equipment in the whole room, right down to the tinniest scratches on his command chair. The bridge sported 7 control stations, positioned in a half ring around the command chair in the center of the room. All around the edges of the circle was a metal railing, positioned in front of the half circle of consoles as to separate them from the large, triple thick piece of ray shielded glass that formed the ships view screen. A screen that at this moment held a picture perfect view of the entire Earth with the Confederate ships dramatically backlit against the edge of the planet's horizon.

Arthurs sighed, it had taken years, decades of work and toil, climbing his way up the chain of command, swaying public opinion in his favor, even risking his life on the front lines of the Great War to gain more renown. All of it leading up to this moment this one moment when he would finally achieve his life long goal: the total domination of the Earth, the oldest and most revered planet in all the Federation.

It was almost too good to be true. Arthurs breathed deeply, savoring the moment. "Sir, all ships are reporting preparations complete, we are ready to begin." Arthurs smirked, _oh well, time to stop enjoying and time to start doing, _"order all ships to their positions, begin the invasion!" Outside in the vacuum of space, thousands of heavy landers, drop-ships and fighters detached themselves from the bellies of the Confederate capital ships and headed towards the planet. Tuning his holo-interface to watch the drama, Arthurs sat back in his chair and watched the culmination of his life's work unfold.

* * *

**KND Arctic Base: Landing Bay 3 (3 hours into X-Day)**

Jack looked down the barrel of Numbah 60's M.U.S.K.E.T. with an unflinching glare as the rest of the operatives aboard the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., unsure of what to do, watched on. "Numbah 60, I am going to give you one chance to put down your weapon and get out of my way", growled Jack in a menacing voice. Numbah 60 just sneered, "not a chance traitor, the only place your going is the prison block!"

"Patton, what are you doing?" Rachel spoke up, equal amounts of confusion and irritation in her voice, "we don't have time for these shenanigans, the Moonbase is gone and we need to get a grip on things before they spiral further out of control." "He knew Rachel", said Numbah 60 his temper rising, "he knew about all of this, he knew this would happen, he's been planning this for years, so give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot this traitor and throw him in a cell for the rest of eternity!"

"Because he's still one of his", said an another voice from outside the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Another operatives stepped through the door to confront Numbah 60. He wore a uniform that looked like a cross between those worn by the Moonbase guards and the outfits worn by the 44 twins. He had on black boots with green pants, a greenish black vest that looked like a flak jacket over a heavy grey shirt with dark black gloves. He had a helmet that looked like a cross between a S.M.E.L.L.M.E.T. and one of the Moonbase guard's ironer helmets hanging on his back from a strap across his neck, over his shoulder was slung a rifle that looked like a more advanced version of the basic KND S.C.A.M.P.P. He had dark black hair, piercing blue eyes and a jagged scar down his right cheek below the eye.

He also looked extremely pissed off. "Numbah 60, I already told you that he was on our side, theres no need for you to go off the handle like this", the new operative's voice was hard and firm, and as unflinching as his iron glare. Numbah 60 hesitated at the other operative's retort, but kept his gun up all the same, "I know what you said, but I still don't trust him and now I really don't trust you, so again give me one good reason." "If you don't trust me, why are you about to shoot him based off of something I told you?" said the other operative matter-of-factly. "Well because I... no thats...uh, well maybe, no...uhh", Numbah 60 faltered as he thought this over.

Jack glared at the new operative, "Jonathan, what the hell did you tell him!" Jack's voice was as hard and unflinching as the newcomers, Nigel leaned his head towards Rachel and whispered, "so, I'm guessing this is Numbah 1918, right?", "yeah, pretty much", said Rachel, whispering back, "he used to be part of sector CA like Jack, before all the changes went down", "wow, I can hear the resemblance" said Nigel, sarcastically, "is everyone from sector CA like this?" Rachel chuckled softly, "most of them", she said.

Looking up from her little conversation with Nigel, Rachel said, "this is taking too long", walking over to the three operatives she said, "Numbah 60, there are bigger things going on than this, you can judge Numbah 141 later." Numbah 60 hesitated, but then reluctantly lowered his weapon, glaring at Jack, Jack in turn glared at Numbah 362, "whadda ya mean later?" "After everything thats gone down in the past few hours, your lucky I don't just have you decommissioned right now", she said, turning angrily to him, "and I don't trust you either, now I want some answers and when we get to the command center your going to give them, is that understood!"

Jack glanced at Numbah 1918 for help, but he just shrugged and tapped his finger to his wrist, Jack sighed and looked back at Numbah 362, "fine" he ground out. Numbah 60 gestured for the other operatives to leave the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and all of them hurried to comply. On the way out Numbah 86 stopped at the edge of the door and said to Numbah 60, "so what was that all about?" Patton just groaned and walked out of the door with her, "I'll tell you later", he said. Walking out Jack turned to Numbah 1918 and asked, "how much did you tell him", Jonathan simply shrugged and said, "as much was necessary to get him to help us activate the S.C.A.M.P.P. cannons, so pretty much everything we tell the operatives"

"Good", replied Jack walking out of the ship with him, "there is much more to be said, but judging from Patton's reaction now is not the time to reveal anymore, we must focus on halting Arthurs invasion." "Numbah 362 is going to demand answers and now that Patton knows our side of the story, she's gonna want more than basic info." "I know, I know", replied Jack, his face fell into a frown, "maybe it is time to tell them about the Federation." "Maybe", replied Jonathan, but at the same time he grabbed Jack's arm and spun him around to look him straight in the eye, "but now is not the time to talk about the Directorate." "They have to know at some point" replied Jack, looking over his shoulder he eyed the growing crowd of operatives welcoming back the survivors from the Moonbase.

"Revealing those secrets now would throw them into chaos, the KND is already balanced on the edge of a knife, that knowledge could send it to the blade." Jack relented, "your right, but when this is over, they must know", "yes" agreed Jonathan, "but only when this is over." The crowd of operatives had already vanished down the hall to the command center, so Jack and Jonathan began to follow.

"Patton's already made it clear he wants to fight back against the KMC", said Jonathan, "he thinks that if we throw all our resources at them, we can win." Jack scoffed at that, "fat chance, he obviously doesn't comprehend the full power of what he's facing, I'm gonna have to try and persuade them from that course of action when we get up there." Jonathan looked at Jack, "you do realize that when we do reveal this stuff they'll kick us out of the KND, right?"

Jack did sort of a half grimace half grin, "heh, you realize if we lose this there isn't going to be a KND anymore and its not like Arthurs is gonna let us walk away with our lives either." "Secrets to the grave then, lord knows enough of your comrades did the same thing", Jack sighed, hung his head and then looked at the ceiling, "lord knows I may join them soon, well we better get back in the war then." "Right behind you sir", replied Jonathan, as the two walked down the hall to join the crowd of operatives heading for the command center.

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**Villains Convention Hall: Virginia**

"...and then", said Mr. Boss, "we'll break into the Moonbase and steal their Codemodule, with it we'll be able to find where that blasted Numbah 1 is hiding so we can finally steal the Book of KND from him!" Mr. Boss was gathered around a large table in the convention center, surrounded by every one of the adult super villains, except Father who was still out searching the world for Nigel Uno. "Hey, didn't Grandfather already try that?" asked Nightbrace, "Ar! and didn't the scurvy dog get his book whooped all the same", put in Stickybeard. "Well yes, but do any of you have any better ideas now that Fathers gone, I mean he did pretty much plan all of these attacks on his own" replied Mr. Boss, everyone looked around in confusion trying to think of something, but in the end they all just shrugged. "Oh come on, you call yourself villains, none of you could ever come with anything!"

"Thats because your all morons", said a voice from the doorway, "WHO SAID THAT" yelled Mr. Boss, all the villains turned angrily towards the door. In the doorway stood a group of kids armed to the teeth and wearing some strange uniforms, nothing like the KND operatives the adults had seen before, but not knowing any better they just assumed it was them. "KIDS NEXT DOOR.." yelled Mr. Boss, "you must have us confused with those other kids", replied the same voice, it wasn't coming from one of the kids in the doorway, "well who are you then?" asked Mr. Boss. One of the kids threw a device into the center of the room that began to spin and emit light, all of a sudden a hologram of a kid wearing a military uniform was projected into the center of the room. "I am known as Arthurs, but you can call me master" replied the holo. "Master! Hahahahaha" laughed , all the other villains joined in, Arthurs did not look amused. "You've got some nerve calling yourself the master of us kid, we're adults and your a child so I think you can figure out who is really in charge here." Arthurs smirked, "oh I can and soon you will too." He raised his right hand to the sky and said, "give my regards to your children when you get up there" then he dropped his hand. The troops in the door raised their rifles and turned the convention hall into a killing ground.

The screams of the dying adults bounced off the walls, all but drowned out by the unending boom of rifle fire. Though there were few adults left to see it, visible through the glass in the ceiling, all across the sky fiery shapes plunged towards the city, trailing smoke contrails like falling stars. Confederate fighters screamed overhead launching missiles that traveled on tails of fire into sky scrappers that were immediately transformed into flaming pillars that put the twin towers bombing to shame. The invasion had begun.

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**Dark stuff, well Chapter 7 will probably be coming out either at the end of this week or next Monday, I am probably not going to write any more stories until I finish this, but seeing how long this is going to be that might change. As always, Please comment and Review!**


	7. Chapter 7: A Long Way Gone

**Hello everyone and here is chapter 7. Sorry for the longer wait, but school is starting to catch up with me, hopefully though I will be able to release chapter 8 before the end of next week, no promises though. More big thanks go out to Lil Appleduck and the GameWizard2008 for some great reviews as well as Appleduck for following my story. Lil, in response to your question: yes your she did already ask that and yes it is going to be part of the story eventually. Big thanks to all the people who have viewed story so far, I have almost reach 500 viewers WOOT! More dark stuff in this chapter, so enjoy!**

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_"It's always darkest before the dawn"- _Anonymous

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**KND Arctic Base: Command Center**

As Schmitt and Jonathan rushed to catch up with the others, meanwhile, Numbah 60 had been retelling everything he had learned to Numbah 362 and the others. "Apparently, he told everyone in the fleet about this as well", finished Numbah 60, "or so Numbah 1918 says." Rachel considered this, she had already gathered much of what Numbah 60 had told her from the events on the Moonbase, that Schmitt had known about the invasion and that it involved forces beyond the KND, still this news that the whole fleet was in on it the whole time was something else. "And they never told us", she thought out loud, "half the Kids Next Door knew this was coming and they never told me, how deep does this conspiracy go?" Numbah 60 answered her question, "only as far as the fleet, according to 1918, Jack wanted as few people aware of the invasion as possible, apparently he only told a few of the higher officers about it as well as the members of his old sector and they only gave vague answers to the fleet personnel, so they really don't know any more than us." "Good", Rachel replied in a relieved voice, "so the only real traitors we have to worry about are Jack and his command staff, I worried for a moment that we may have to decommission half the KND when this was over."

"Are you really considering decommissioning him when this is over", asked Nigel in a skeptical voice, "after what I've seen, I don't know if we could take him", Rachel also looked skeptical, "maybe, but that Arthurs guy said that you were his best agent, best agent in the whole Confederacy, whatever that is, so that's gotta count for something, right?" Hearing this, Numbah 86 just laughed, "you won't get the chance, the moment we have him away from those fleet traitors, I'll have the decommissioning squad take him down faster than you can blink." "Funny", said Numbah 1 with a wry grin, "thats how long it took him to disarm you, remember?" he spoke with a teasing tone, to which Numbah 86 replied indignantly, "he got lucky is all, I wasn't ready, next time it won't be so easy for him."

"Whatever", cut in Numbah 60, "the point is we can't trust any of them, not the fleet, not Jonathan and especially not Jack, I say we take all of them down right now and take our chances with the invaders, we still have the fleet's old tech stash here in the Arctic base, we can beat these guys all on our own." "I'm not taking that chance Numbah 60", replied Rachel, firmly, "like it or not, Schmitt has critical information on these invaders, information I doubt we'll get any where else, so no, Schmitt stays on our side until this is over, but then I promise you we will do something about him and his fleet." "His fleet?" questioned Numbah 2, "I know he's the admiral, but come on? They can't all be on his side."

"Schmitt hand picked the top officers of the fleet", said Rachel, "and those officers trained and conditioned every cadet that went into the fleet, I have no doubt that they're all loyal to him and he was the one who created the fleet in the first place, it pretty much is his fleet." "Was his fleet", said Numbah 86, grinning, "most of those traitors got wiped out in the opening attack, it shouldn't be any problem to stop the ones who'r left." "Fanny!" said Rachel, horrified, "fleet or no fleet, those kids were our operatives and they died fighting for the KND, show some respect!" "I don't care what he says", said Numbah 86, jerking a thumb at Numbah 60, "in my eyes, they're still all traitors!"

She stomped off up the hallway in a huff, leaving the other operatives to continue on without her. Numbah 60 said, "maybe I should go talk to her..." "I' don't think thats a good idea right now Patton" said Numbah 1, "give her some time to cool down." "Fine", said Patton, "anyway, Jonathan also said that Jack built the fleet to defend the Earth from the invasion." "What? Why would he plan an invasion of the Earth and then build a fleet to defend it against that invasion?" asked Rachel in a very confused voice, Numbah 60 just shook his head, "I don't know, Jonathan says its because Jack was against the invasion to begin with, but still that makes no sense, why would he plan an invasion and be against it at the same time." Nobody had any answers, but they all knew the one person who did, "Schmitt", swore Rachel, "I think it's time we got some answers out of him, where is he?" One of the operatives in the back of the crowd spoke up, "he was in the hanger talking to Numbah 1918, they should be coming up here now." "Alright", Rachel spoke out to the whole crowd, "we keep this secret from the fleet operatives and especially Jack, do you understand."

They all nodded in agreement and ran up the passageway towards the command center. On the way up Rachel spoke quietly to Numbah 60, "do we even know who's side Schmitt is on?" "I think he's on his own side", replied Patton, "I guess that means you want me to watch him, right?" "Yes, I want you to keep a close eye on him, if it looks like he's going to try and run, I want you to shoot him in the back, understood?" "Loud and clear", said Numbah 60 with relish, "I was hoping you'd say that." They ran up the hallway and burst into the command center, which happened to be in an uproar when they entered. Operatives were screaming into radios and numerous screens displaying locations and tree houses from across the world, hung from cables overhead. Rachel noticed that several of the screens showed locations under attack and tree houses on fire, she quickly ran over to the holo table in the center of the room, where the 44 twins were pouring over a 3D map image of the globe.

"STATUS UPDATE NUMBAH 44!", yelled Numbah 60, both of the twins turned around at the same and were about to speak, but then they started arguing over who he was talking. "THE LEFT ONE" yelled Numbah 60, the left twin smirked at the other before reporting, "Sir, reports are coming in from every tree house around the world, just ten minutes ago forces from orbit descended on every major city world wide!" The newly arrived operatives gasped, Numbah 362 started asking questions, "how are the tree house doing? What are our losses?" "According to what we have sir, we've lost sectors HH, B, C, D and EG as well as most of our sectors in Africa and Europe, but sectors F and G managed to escape to to sector R in Russia." This shocked Rachel, "it's only been ten minutes and we've lost half our forces!" The 44 twin nodded solemnly, "they hit at least half of our tree houses at once, by the time we realized what was happening, it was too late."

Just then Schmitt and Jonathan came bursting into the room, "whats going on?" Schmitt demanded, "has the invasion started?". Rachel turned to him and replied, "yes it has, and apparently we've already lost half our numbers", she seethed with barely controlled anger, "this is all _your_ fault Schmitt, operatives all over the world are dying because of you! If you had just told told us when we had time then we could have prepared, we could have been ready!" Jack walked up to the holo table, hand clasped behind his back and said, "if I had told you back then do you think you would have believed me? You wouldn't have, and I never would have had the chance to even start the fleet."

"Your fleet lasted ten seconds before getting blown out of the sky!", yelled an irate operative, "how does that help us!?" Jack whirled on the operative, snarling, "the fleet wasn't ready, I needed more time!" "You don't have anymore time", yelled Rachel, "these Confederates are here now, so tell us, how do we beat these guys!" Jack ran a hand over his eyes, "the knowledge and training to beat an enemy like this doesn't come in a single day, the KND is not an army, and I keep telling you this isn't another one your little playground Skirmishes!"

He slapped his hand against the table for emphasis, glaring out at the others with a look of exasperation, "your not fighting ice cream men or candy pirates or some black suited moron who shoots fire balls this time!" He paced the table, hands still behind his back, "this is a legitimate, professional and experienced military force, one that has been trained and conditioned to fight and kill." He gestured at the images on the screens, "this is a real war, with no mercy or quarter, no stun lasers or mustard guns, those soldiers are armed with real guns that fire bullets not condiments, and they have real tanks, mechs and aircraft."He put his palms on the table and leaned over the top, "what have we got, a ragtag army of barely trained kids, fighting with weapons that give you a headache and aircraft that were made out of parts found at a dump." He sat down in an open chair and slumped back, "I may be an excellent tactician, but even in the Beach War I had some advantage over my enemy, here we have nothing, so I'm telling you, WE. CAN'T. WIN. THIS. ON. OUR. OWN!" Numbah 60 scoffed, "some master strategist you turned out to be." Jack glared at Patton, "strategy has nothing to do with it, your just not ready!"

Numbah 362 favored Jack with an angry expression, "so who do you expect us to turn to then? The teenagers? The adults?!" Jack barely heard her, he was staring past her at one of the TV screens mounted on the wall behind her. He slowly got up out of his chair and stared past her with a dazed expression. "I think those options are off the table", he said slowly and in a pained voice. He pressed a button on the holo table, immediately the 3D projection of the Earth was replaced with a live action video that showed Hendry Middle School being stormed by battalions of heavily armed Confederate Infantry. Around the school lay smoking piles of rubble, the remains of the teenz bikes and defense systems, and on the ground around the school lay the bodies of dozens and dozens of Teen Ninjas. In the air above the school, the few remaining teen bikes were engaged in a climactic dogfight with a squadron of Confederate fighters, while on the roof of the school the remaining Teen Ninjas held out, firing their wrist lasers at the hoards of Confederate troops. But despite a few lucky shots, the teenz lasers just bounced off the soldier's armor, while the Confederate's return fire cut through the teenz BRAs like a knife through tissue paper. The battle was hopeless, for every Confederate soldier that fell, ten teenagers died.

Jack pressed the button again and the image was replaced with a similar one from McClintock High School. Numbah 5 gasped as she saw her sister and Maurice fighting off legions of Confederate soldiers. Both of them were battered and bloody, Cree had a laser burn on her shoulder from a Confederate rifle and Maurice bled openly from a puncture wound in his side. Many of the operatives in the room averted their eyes as the soldiers closed in around the two, but at the last second a teenz van plowed through the crowd, toppling soldiers left and right. Cree and Maurice quickly hopped in the back as the van took off again, flying straight up into the sky, hampered by a pair of Confederate fighters. Jack pushed the button a third and final time and the scene at McClintock was replaced by a city in flames. Black smoke rose in thick columns from dozens of burning skyscrapers and the smoking remains of bombed out buildings, all of which coated the sky in a fog of ink black clouds. Entire sections of the city had been reduced to rubble, debris from ruined houses cluttered the streets and charred scraps of paper blew in the wind. Far off in the distance, bright lights punctured the fog of smoke, the indication of a far off battle. Here and there a few surviving people walked through the ruins of their city, while others simply sat in the ashes of what once been their homes and wallowed in their own despair.

At the forefront of this horrible scene stood several Confederate landers, ramps open, down which marched row after row of Confederate soldiers. The soldiers marched down the ruined streets in perfect step and formation, moving out into the city as if they were on parade. But this is not what truly caught the attention of spectating operatives, what truly caught their attention was the picture of a Confederate flag, hoisted high over the ruined remains of a demolished convention center, around which lay the bodies of dozens of adult super villains. The gathered operatives choked as they saw villains they recognized, villains who only a few days ago they had been fighting themselves. Many of the nearby operatives who could see the details, fell to their knees from the weight of the despair emanating from the image. Others rushed out of the room, unable to take in the enormity of what they had just seen. "Count Spankulot... ... Crazy Old Cat Lady", said Numbah 4 in voice as low as whisper, "Stickybeard... Chester..." he went on, recounting all the names of the villains in a sort of shocked eulogy. Nigel was rooted to spot, unable to take in the knowledge that all of his former enemies were now gone. He'd fought them for years and had been determined to bring them to justice for their crimes, but not like this, not like this. He reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand for support and she held on with a grip that suggested the same things was going through her head as well. Jonathan in the back of the room closed his eyes and hung his head while Jack stood stock straight, glaring at the screen. His eyes played across the image as though searching for something, then they locked in place, fixated by bearer of his rage. His voice was a low growl as he said one word, "Arthurs." He raised a finger and pointed at the screen, where Arthurs was visible, standing before the whole scene, flanked by a pair of armed and helmeted soldiers, watching on with a look of pure triumph.

"Sound" ordered Jack, one of the nearby operatives shakily hit a button and instantly the speakers in the command center blared to life with the sounds of a dying city. Through the speaker emanated the sounds of marching boots, crumbling rubble, far off explosions and gunshots. "Look!" one of the nearby operatives spoke up, pointing a finger at the side of the screen. A dark shape was visible in the entrance of the convention center, it moved with a stagger and wobbled slightly. Suddenly the speakers, as if in echo, pumped out one word, spoken in the voice of wavering death shout, "ARTHURS!" Arthurs whirled around and his guards raised their weapons towards the noise. The black shape resolved into the form of Mr. Boss, his suit torn and ragged and bleeding openly from dozens of gunshot wounds across his body. Yet he still walked, staggering forwards with a look of pure defiance and rage, in his left hand he held aloft a matte black, ceramic pistol, gripping it so hard you could see the white in his knuckles.

Numbah 86 gasped with shock when she saw her father and she leapt towards the image as if she could jump through the hologram and stop what was to come. "DAD" she screamed as a few operatives restrained her to keep her from literally attacking the TV, "DADDY!" On screen, Mr. Boss continued forwards, staggering with each step as he threatened to topple. Arthurs looked unconcerned as his soldiers itched to take the shot. Slowly Mr. Boss brought his pistol to bear on Arthurs and fired, the recoil slamming his already weakened arm back. The bullet sped towards Arthurs, but went right through him and out the other side. The hologram of Arthurs fizzed for a moment, then reconstituted as Mr. Boss finally collapsed onto his knees from the pain of his wounds. He coughed black stains of blood onto the pavement as Arthurs stood over him impassively.

He spoke, "Fool, wasting the last seconds of your life fighting when you've already lost." Mr. Boss spoke, his voice low and in pain, "yo..you can't beat...all of us...kid" he looked up in one last act of defiance, "adults...control..the...earth,...we..control...yo u." Arthurs turned and gestured with his arm as one of his soldiers put his pistol to Mr. Boss's forehead. "Not anymore" he sneered and the soldier fired, blowing Mr. Boss's brains out the back of his head as his body finally toppled to the ground. "NOOOOO!" screamed Numbah 86, as tears streamed down from her eyes, "NOOO NOOO NOOO!" She broke free of the operative's grip and ran from the room screaming and crying. Jack looked over at Numbah 60, "I think now would be a good time to go talk to her" he said, Patton gave a stiff nod, still coming down from the shock of what had just happened and quickly took off after Fanny.

On the screen, Arthurs turned and walked away from the body, but before he walked off the screen he turned around and said, "I know your watching Schmitt and I know you realize this is happening all over the world right now." He smirked right in the face of the camera, as if he knew right where the satellite was and said, "the adults are finished, the teens are finished and now, I'm coming for you", with that he made a gesture to someone off screen and immediately the image on the holo projector dissolved into static. "Shit!" swore Jonathan, "they took out the satellite", one by one around the room, all the screens connected to the orbital satellites fizzed out into static as well.

"They're taking out all the satellites" Jack observed, his voice low and hard. At his sides, his hands balled into fists and his eyes narrowed at the space where Arthurs had been. Jonathan walked over and put a hand on Jack's shoulder, shaking his head, the message was clear: _not now. _Jack sighed and nodded, then he turned to Rachel and Nigel who were also rooted to the spot and said, "we need to ready the base, were about to get hit." Nigel and Rachel did not respond and Jack shook his head, he pushed a button on the holo table and a live, 3D image of the Arctic base sprang up. "Jonathan get back to the hanger and form up with Fritz, get the operatives to their defense positions and fortify the entrances, also I want those anti-orbital guns to fend off any capital ships that make a move towards the southern polar orbit and feed me the positions of every ship in orbit to the tactical display here constantly, understood?" "Yessir!" said Jonathan giving a crisp salute before running back out the door to the hanger.

Jack turned to the other operatives in the room, "the rest of you get the perimeter and anti-air defense online, as for the fleet operatives go and get the defense shields operational, we'll need them." The operatives saluted and snapped to work, quickly the command center was emptied as every operative ran to perform their tasks. Jack gave a flick of his wrist and immediately all the doors in the room closed. He turned to Rachel and Nigel and said, "I believe it is time for some answers."

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**Dark stuff huh, dark stuff, bye bye . For those of you who are disappointed that I pretty much killed off all the adult villains in one chapter, well don't be because I can always find excuses for some of them surviving and hey, Father and the DCFDTL aren't here, yet! We'll finally get some answers concerning Schmitt and the invasion in the next chapter, so nice cliff hanger if I do say so myself. As always, please comment and review!**


	8. Chapter 8: Answers (most of em anyway)

**Well it has been a while, but here is Chapter 8, sorry it took so long, but for those of you who read Coming Storms and Communication Interception, like I said I've been having a hard time with school work. Big thanks as well to those who read my side stories and also huge thanks to Gamewizard2008 for the one review, yes it doesn't sound good does it. However, your waiting has been rewarded, here is chapter 8 as well as many of the answers you have been wanting. It drags a bit here and there, but I had a lot to explain so here is chapter 8!**

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"_For us, the hardest part about hearing the truth wasn't understanding it, it was accepting it"_ - Numbah 2552/ Fritz Washington

**KND Arctic Base: Command Center**

Jack strode to the other side of the room and opened a wall mounted cabinet, opening it he removed a glass bottle of root beer and 3 glasses, setting them on the holo table before pulling up three chairs along side it. "Sit", he commanded and Nigel and Rachel numbly did as he said. They could still barely assimilate what they had just seen, the shock of it showed on their faces and they still clutched hands with a death grip. Jack eyed them curiously before pouring each of them a glass of root beer saying, "I know how you feel, I felt the same way when I saw real carnage for the first time, but you need to get ahold of yourselves."

He set two of the glasses next to them on the table, pouring a third glass for himself he said, "drink this, it'll make you feel better, it always works for me." Still numb, Rachel and Nigel took the proffered glasses and drank deeply, the familiar tingle of the root beer slid down their throats and over their tongues, igniting fond memories of times spent with friends in soda bars and lunch rooms. Jack too drank, draining his cup in seconds before pouring himself another glass, he did the same for the other two. Slowly, Nigel and Rachel began to feel themselves again, the root beer pulling them back into who they used to be, reminding them of fun times and old faces, slowly, it brought them back to reality.

They both gasped from the experience, lowering their cups in unison. They still looked shell shocked, but their startled faces had softened and they no longer looked as stiff and pale as they had minutes earlier. Nigel breathed, "thats some good stuff", he said, eyeing the rest of his root beer and then looking to Jack, "where did you get it?" Jack smiled, "I made it myself, I always keep a special homemade stash here at Arctic Base, for those little times when I drop in."He offered them a third helping and they took it graciously, leaning back in his chair, Jack's expression grew stern as he said, "you two need to watch when that happens, the KND can't have two of it's top commanders going numb from shell shock every few minutes now can it?"

"No", replied Rachel, though she hated to agree with him, her expression also grew serious, "we can't, we need to be ready for anything at any second, we _should_ have been ready for anything at any second." Jack's expression softened, "don't be too hard on yourself for it, this is only your first time seeing real war, everyone goes through the same effects, it'll pass and you'll get used to it just like everyone else." "Thats a scary thought", put in Nigel, "to get used to something like this on a daily basis, it's unthinkable?" "Nonsense, why do you think adults condition their soldiers so hard", retorted the admiral, "they do this sort of thing everyday."

Rachel gritted her teeth, "we aren't adults, we're just kids", she shot back, "we were never meant for this sort of fight." The admiral narrowed his eyes, "no", he stated adamantly, "anyone is capable of anything and before this war is over you will know just how far that extends." "I don't want to know though", Rachel erupted in exasperation, "I don't want to know any of this, I want this war to be over, too many have died already, we're kids, KND, we fight for kid's rights, we're not soldiers or killers, this never should have happened." She put her head in her hands, exhausted, Nigel put a comforting hand on her shoulder and turned back to the admiral, "is there any way we can stop this now, can we.. I don't know negotiate?"

"Arthurs will not negotiate, he knows he has the upper hand and now with the adults and teenagers gone or in disarray, he knows that we have no one to turn to, there would be no negotiations, only terms of surrender." Nigel grimaced, "and what would those conditions be?" "Knowing Arthurs, they'd be unconditional", replied Jack, "and even if he did take the Earth, I have no clue as to what he would do with it or the KND afterwards." "Great and you don't know why they're here or what they want, just great", said Nigel, frustrated. Rachel who had been listening quietly the whole time, took the chance to look up and say, "okay, well you said it was time for some answers, so how about you tell us what you do know."

"Alright", replied Jack, "I estimate that Arthurs' troops will be here in a half hour at least, so we don't have much time, ask me any question you want, but I suggest that you only ask the most important ones first." Nigel and Rachel shared a quick glance, turning back to Jack, Rachel said, "you said earlier that there were some things you wouldn't reveal, why the change of heart?" Jack stared seriously at the two of them and then said, "I said only ask the most important, but like I said there are still things I will not tell you, but...", he narrowed his eyes, "there is a good chance we will not survive this attack, it would be cruel of me not to tell why and what you have died for before hand."

At this, Nigel and Rachel blanched before sharing another quick glance, turning back Nigel said, "but don't you have a plan? You wouldn't back yourself into a corner up here and not have a plan!" "My first plan failed and my second plan got us here," retorted Jack, "I'm a strategist, not a miracle worker, your going to have to give me some more time before I can come up with another", he phrased that last part like a joke, though neither Nigel or Rachel were in the mood for such things. Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair, "now what are your questions?"

Rachel and Nigel whispered to each other for a long moment, before Rachel nodded and she and Nigel turned back to Jack. "Tell us about the Federation", said Nigel. "Ah, that", said Jack, taking a swig of root beer, "well, what do you want to know?" "Start from the beginning", cut in Rachel, "so we know all the facts, now tell us, what is the Federation?" Jack placed his cup back on the table and began, "the Federation, to put it short, is an intergalactic empire of planets and solar systems, ruled by an alliance of kids and teenagers united under the shared goal of peace and freedom from adult tyranny."As they were still recovering from the shock of what they had seen on the holo screen, this did little to immediately baffle Nigel and Rachel, "how did it begin" she asked, "and did you just say 'teenagers' were involved?"

"Yes", replied Jack, "The Federation was created over a thousand years ago by both teens and kids, seeking to escape from the tyrannical reign of the adults on their home planets, the kids and teens formed an alliance and took to the stars, using early pieces of 2x4 technology to exceed adult capabilities. The Federation was first established on a few isolated solar systems, over the years it grew and expanded, today the Federation encompasses over two hundred and twenty star systems of fully colonized and occupied worlds and that does not take into account the dozens of far flung outer colonies and agricultural worlds we also possess. As such, the Federation's full title is the United Systems Federation or U.S.F. for short."

He stopped to give them a chance to ask more, but their minds had just begun to reel from what he had said, _an entire civilization of kids and teens, living free from the adults, right under our noses this whole time, _thought Nigel, _but... __kids and teens?! how is that even possible? _"How do you keep the peace between kids and teenagers", he asked. Jack stared strangely at him before answering, "there's no need to keep the peace, they're already at peace." "But how is that possible" asked Nigel, confusion spreading across his face, "how can kids and teens live together peacefully?"

Jack studied Nigel for a long minute, before he cracked a grin and busted out laughing to Nigel and Rachel's astonishment, "AHAHAHA... I thought this would be a problem" said Jack. Still grinning, he elaborated, "the only reason your not at peace with the teens here is because the adults turned them against you." Jack reached for his cup as he went on, "in the beginning, the adults turned the teens against children by promising them all the things they wanted in return for service: more privileges, bigger allowances, cooler bikes, stuff like that. They filled their heads with ideas about teenage superiority over kids and they supported these claims by saying that teens are almost adults already and since adults are 'better' than kids, logically they are too." His smile turned into a frown as he continued, "this is the basis for all adult logic, since they're older it automatically makes them and anything they think of or create better than that of kids and teenagers. This concept of automatic superiority based solely on age is idiotic when you think about, but that makes sense seeing as how its the starting point for all of the adult's arrogance."

Nigel and Rachel shared a confused glance, turning back Rachel said, "okay, I didn't understand half of what you just said, but I got the part about teens and kids, go back to that." "Right... sorry", replied Jack with a hint of mild annoyance, "well as I was saying, teens in the USF have never seen adults, they grow up within the Federation and what they are taught there is all they know, they have no reason to attack children as they're given all the same opportunities and benefits and there is little different between them except in height, age and interests." Jack stared hard at Nigel and Rachel, "I hardly expect you to understand this as well though, you've grown up fighting teenagers, enduring torments and cruelty from them throughout your lives and hitting back just as hard, it's all you know."

Rachel looked skeptical, "your right, I don't understand that and I also can't believe that teens in the USF are any different from the ones down here and even if they are, the ones down here still had a choice, in fact most of them were KND operatives before they left or were decommissioned and they still choose the adults over us." Jack sighed, "thats because you alienated them, you drove them away with your distrust and your mis-understandings, heck, most of the teenagers who join the adults from the KND are operatives who just didn't want to be decommissioned, it's your own fault for turning so many of your people against you." "But if we don't decommission them", shot back Rachel angrily, "then when they become adults, they'd know all our secrets and then they could take us down easy."

Jack rolled his eyes, "if they were truly loyal to the KND in the first place then they would never turn over your secrets and there are even adults who are willing to help kids even if they weren't KND operatives", Jack turned to look at Nigel, "you have some experience with that, don't you Nigel?" Nigel looked a bit sheepish, "Vin Moosk, he helped me destroy the Queen Neck Tie a couple years back, but how do you know about that? That was way before you joined the Kids Next Do...", Nigel caught himself and glared at Jack, who simply shrugged in return, "I've kept a close watch on this world and on the KND in particular for a long time." "Which reminds me", said Rachel, turning the conversation back to the matter at hand, "what do you have to do with this invasion and better yet, who are you really?"

Jack looked a bit peeved, "I'm still Jack Brimve Schmitt in the Federation if thats what your asking", he poured himself some more root beer, holding the glass up as if to inspect it, before downing it in one go, "in the Federation I am Grand Admiral of the USF Navy, commander of the first fleet." He went to pour another glass, then stopped himself, setting his cup back on the table and grimacing before continuing, "I'm the highest ranked officer in the whole Navy and as such am responsible for all decisions regarding naval deployment and defense. In the Federation there is a head for the both sections of the military, the Grand Admiral and the Grand General and theres always been a bit of friction between the two, but nothing like this before." "So your a military commander", said Nigel, "no wonder none of this stuff seems to bother you." Jack scoffed at him, "please, I've been doing this for a long time, it's familiar at this point, though it never gets any easier." "How long exactly have you been doing this for", pressed Rachel, "long enough", replied Jack vaguely, Rachel frowned at him.

"That reminds me", said Nigel suspiciously, "you keep saying these things like 'I've been doing this for a long time' and 'I've been watching for a long time' but you haven't ever actually told us how long, so I want to know, how old are you?" Jack narrowed his eyes, "twelve years old and thats all your getting, next question." "No", cut in Rachel, "I wanna know too, how old are you really?" Jack scowled in annoyance, "this is one of those things that I'm not going to tell you, so either sit here and ask me over and over again wasting time or cut to the chase and move on."

Nigel and Rachel whispered to each other for a moment, they both nodded and Rachel said, "tell us about the Confederacy and what you know about them." Jack sighed, "so we finally come to this." Relaxing in his chair, he began again, "when the Federation was first being created, a small splinter group wanted to use our new found power to rule, to rid the galaxy of the adults by any means necessary and establish a new empire with kiddom at its head." He narrowed his eyes, "they called themselves: the Kids Militiant Confederacy."

Nigel and Rachel's eyes narrowed, "so they've been around for quite a while", said Nigel, "I'd think that with all your super advanced technology you'd have been able to beat them by now. Jack grunted in frustration, "its not that easy, they're a slippery bunch and they don't usually gather in one place or launch large scale invasions. For the past couple of years they've resigned themselves to pirating and raiding the outer colonies." Jack scratched his chin in thought, "they're a dedicated bunch, they hang on with tooth and claw right to the bitter end, its a bit admirable in some sense."

He sighed,"but for all that, they're still just a group of extremist rebels and radicals. The majority of our society was willing to put aside our old grudge with the adults and live peacefully in space with our new technology, but nooo, those bastards had to stir up trouble, in the end the early Federation turned on itself, half sided with the Confederacy, the other half stayed with the USF." He sighed, "the war only lasted a month, but in that time hundreds died, when it was all over the remains of the Confederacy refused to accept our terms of surrender and instead, fled in mass to the stars." Nigel gave Jack a quizzical look, "so your great Federation was almost destroyed in a civil war, I guess you guys aren't so high and mighty after all."

Jack gritted his teeth, "no, we're not and neither are you, I don't see our planets getting invaded and torched, do you?" "No I don't", replied Nigel angrily, "but thats because we didn't even know you existed until your rebels dropped in to invade us!" Jack looked like he wanted to say something back, but he restrained himself, "this is getting us no where, lets get back to the conversation." "...Fine", said Nigel irritatedly. Jack continued, "in the aftermath of the war, it was deemed necessary to provide a set of rules and regulations by which the Federation could be governed, a constitution, so it was that the first 3 systems of the Federation signed the Federated Worlds Pact and set down the rules and codes by which we govern ourselves today."

Jack seemed lost in thought, so Nigel cut in, "..and, what happened to the Confederacy after that?" "Oh", said Jack, pulling himself back, "we didn't encounter them for another five hundred years, until they showed up to begin raiding our outer colonies, so a new branch of the military was formed to combat them and keep the peace inside the Federation: the Allied Colonial Directorate, sort of the National Guard, Coast Guard and an intergalactic police force all rolled into one. They began fighting the Confederacy along the outer colonies, while the Federation main stream military was tasked with defending the borders from alien powers." "Aliens?" asked Rachel, curiously, "so there are aliens in the galaxy?"

"Oh yes", said Jack, "there are dozens of species spread out across hundreds of worlds in the galaxy, though they are all mostly small species, usually only contained to about a world or single system, but there are a few large scale empires that we have to deal with." Nigel and Rachel looked at each other, this bore investigating but they had little time, Nigel shrugged to Rachel and she shook her head, _no,_ so Nigel sighed and went to ask the most important question: "why is a Federation general leading a Confederate army against the KND?" "That", responded Jack, "is a very complicated question and one that I don't have all the answers too to begin with, so here's what I know."

He steepled his fingers and leaned back into his chair, "before all of this began, the Federation had just finished fighting a long and bloody ten year war: the Great Galactic War or GGW. When the war was over, everyone was tired of fighting and the war had gone on for so long that morale and resources were exceedingly low, many people believed that the war had been totally pointless and lost touch with reality, few people could stomach so much bloodshed without reason." Nigel's curiosity was piqued, "who were you fighting against?" "You wouldn't know them", replied the Admiral, "they're called Samteerians, the Samteerian Empire before the war was one of the 4 galactic superpowers, along with us, the Federation and two others: the Solar Planet Coalition or SPC and the Zigaren Republic."

Nigel and Rachel shared another quick glance, this was getting interesting. "The Samteerians were an imperialistic and martial people", continued Schmitt, "they, like the adults, believed that they were superior to all other forms of life. In accordance with their superiority they believed that it was their right to rule the galaxy." Schmitt shrugged, "you can pretty much guess what happened from there, the Samteerians attacked, we fought back, in the end the galaxy divided between two sides, the Empire and the SPC on one side and us and the Zigarens on the other."

"The war ended with the razing of Samteerian's capital and home world, after the war the Empire broke up into numerous splinter groups and factions, so they don't really pose that much of a threat today, the SPC pretty much gave up after that and thats how we won the war." He sighed, "then comes Arthurs, and he starts stirring up the public, especially in the outer colonies, raving about how it was time to settle old scores, finish what we started, eliminate threats to our dominance, yada yada yada."

A tired look sprang into Jack's eyes and he leaned his elbow against the table, resting his head on his fist, "we really should have suspected that he was a confederate back then, it's so obvious now, the tirades, the anti-adult speeches, so blatantly obvious and we never guessed. He was popular too, by god the masses actually listened to him, though I'm sure it had more to do with raising morale than shared opinion. Jack looked aimlessly over at the root beer bottle, "he turned the public against me and with his support he petitioned the High Council to endorse an invasion of Earth." "But why Earth?" demanded Rachel, "why are we such a priority? We're no threat to anyone and what about all the other planets with adults on them, why didn't he invade them?"

"He did", replied Jack, "or more precisely, the Confederacy did on his orders." Jack sat up in his chair, tired of slouching, "the Confederacy's main goal for years was to eradicate adulthood from the galaxy, or at least from the Federation, during the war our forces were too occupied to defend isolated adult controlled planets, the Confederacy fell on them, smashing their defenses and killing every adult in days, then they abducted the remaining kid and teen populace to serve in their armies."

Jack's brow creased in thought as he said, "I can only assume that Arthurs was connected with them back then, it would make sense though, he could slip them tactical information about the movements of Federation forces, allowing them to only hit planets beyond our protection." Jack suddenly grew very serious and once again fixed a hard stare on Nigel and Rachel, "don't take this lightly when I say that this is the last, naturally occupied adult world, the last!", he stabbed his finger towards the ground for emphasis, "it's the only planet left that humanity naturally evolved on, the only planet where adults have yet to be eradicated, if Earth falls, then there will be no adults left in the galaxy, no human adults any way."

The implications staggered Nigel and Rachel, but then, Nigel caught something and said, "wait, won't we turn into adults eventually and won't you as well, I mean everyone does right?" "No", said Jack, firmly, "kids of the Federation do not", he didn't elaborate, though Nigel and Rachel dearly wanted to press him for more, but their time was running out so instead Rachel went forward and asked, "you knew about the invasion and you obviously appose it, so why didn't you stop it and why did you help Arthurs?" At this Jack grimaced, "I had no choice" he said wearily, "the council was backing Arthurs and so was the public, we're a democratic society so I had to bend to the majority rule, but...", he narrowed his eyes, "make no mistake, I did fight the invasion, by being here, why do the think I created the fleet in the first place?" "so thats why...", said Nigel, finally putting 2 and 2 together, "the Federation wouldn't help you stop the invasion, so you tried to build a separate fleet here and trained the KND to be soldiers so we could stop it ourselves?"

"Thats correct", said Jack with a smile, "now you get it, I had this all planned out from the start, in fact the only reason I joined the KND in the first place was to prepare you for the invasion." His smile fell into a frown, "but no Arthurs screwed up everything, all that preparation and planning out the airlock, we could have done this peacefully."  
"We could have?", asked Rachel, managing to sound partly sarcastic and partly curious at the same time. "Yes, we could have", replied Jack with a sigh, "the original invasion plan was to simply disable all your space defenses, then send down Federation troops armed with non lethal weapons to gather all the adults for transportation and incarceration." "Incarceration?", asked Nigel, confused, "means imprisonment", said Jack, "we never intended to kill anyone, it would have been done peacefully, then I would have had the fleet show off some of it's new tech with a few harmless barrages, then we could have negotiated."

He sighed, "but no, it always comes back to blood and iron doesn't it." "Well at least your here", said Nigel, trying to sound sincere. Jack looked up and his eyes hardened as he said, "I have no love for adults, I'm only doing this for the KND and for Earth, the Confederacy has no right coming back here." "Wait, what do you mean back here?" said Rachel, but Jack was too busy to hear it, "if only we'd had more time, I was expecting Arthurs to invade at least a month from now, by that time the fleet would have been fully equipped and trained and I would have had time to get an anti-orbital defense screen running, but Arthurs surprised me and moved up the schedule, I suspect thats because he caught on to what I was doing."

"But you still haven't answered my earlier question", said Nigel, he hadn't heard Rachel's question either, too focused on what the admiral was saying, "why is a Federation general fighting with the Confederacy and also, why did he call me his top agent?" Jack's brow furrowed, "Arthurs has always apposed our ways and advocated for a more anti-adult oriented administration, he's been lobbying for an adult extermination campaign for years, I guess it's only to be expected that he teamed up with the Confederacy, as Grand General he could offer them all sorts of benefits, new technology, better weapons, state of the art ships and equipment as well as Federation intelligence." "Thankfully he was never able to get his hands on the most advanced Federation weapons tech", said Jack smiling in memory, "I ordered the navy to have nothing to do with his campaign and as Grand Admiral my word is law in the fleet, also I had my second in command cause all kinds of trouble for Arthurs' while I was here, deny him weapons shipments, cut food supplies and even turned some of the army commanders and civilian leaders against him. In the end he had to settle for second hand tech to outfit his invasion force."

Jack looked at the ceiling, "but again he outsmarted me, I never suspected he would bring the Confederacy into this and judging by the ships in orbit he got them to commit a sizable portion of their fleet, even if the KND fleet had been fully prepared, I don't know how long you could have lasted against him." Jack eyed Nigel, "as for that top agent bit, I've heard rumors that the Confederacy's been recruiting a special multi-species elite task force for special missions, kids only and only ones who have never seen or heard of the Federation, when they recruit them they only ever take one candidate and that candidate is always the best fighter on the planet."

Jack grinned at his next statement, "then they make up a bunch of bogus crap about a 'galactic fight against adult tyranny', usually telling them their part of some organization like for example: the Galactic Kids Next Door, to get the recruits to buy into their offer. To do this they usually plant an operative in the midst of the planet's kid populace, to evaluate possible candidates, your Numbah Infinity for example." Jack leaned back in his chair again, "said operatives also gather a small number of followers to them using the same bogus story and a bit of exotic tech to get them to buy it, like Numbah 74.239 did, they also sometimes take their followers with them to serve in the Confederacy as well." Rachel laughed, "so I guess in the end there was a splinter cell after all."

"But..but...", stammered Nigel, "why can't I remember anything? And why would I help a bunch of kid hating extremists?" "That", replied Jack in a considerate voice, "is a question that only you and Arthurs can answer and I don't think the latter is going to oblige you anytime soon, though its safe to say your not working for them now." Nigel looked confused, "what do you mean, of course I'm not working for them any more." Jack shrugged, "one can't be too sure, though that memory test they gave you worked out, I had to make sure for myself." "Wait, thats the reason you put on that whole display in the med bay?", asked Nigel, "to make sure I wasn't an agent?"

Jack shrugged again, "couldn't be too careful, I mean I had just met you and under the circumstances it was a possibility, but you checked out." "Nice to see I meet your approval", said Nigel, sarcastically, Jack smirked, "who said anything about that." Rachel put up her hands,"Okay, we're getting off topic here", turning to Jack she asked, " if the original invasion plan is a bust and Arthurs is now a traitor, why can't you just call the Federation and get them to intervene now that you know he's working with the enemy?" Jack frowned and then grimaced, "two reasons: one, Arthurs is currently jamming any long range transmission from leaving the planet, two, the only person who could do something about this is on a secure, encrypted comm frequency that I can only reach with a special communicator I keep stashed in my quarters on the Moonbase." "And, why didn't you grab that when we were on the Moonbase", Nigel asked exasperated, Jack shrugged again, "the things almost as tall as me and weighs about a ton, what was I supposed to do?" Rolling his eyes, Nigel said, "so if that options out of the picture, why can't we just fly to the Federation and ask their help, whats the nearest Federation world?"

"Mars, but that doesn't do us any good, no ship we have could break the Confederate blockade", replied Jack in an irritated tone. "Wait? MARS!" exclaimed Rachel in a unbelieving tone, "you couldn't be that close to us, we've had ships flying over Mars for years and we've never seen a single Federation ship before!" "All in system traffic employ special cloaking devices that hide them from sight and sensors used by the adults and KND", replied Jack, "also all cities on the planet are located underground, its a precaution we took we settling a system with an adult occupied world." "But.. how have we never hit one of your ships?" Rachel was grasping at straws, "and also, why can't they see whats happening here then?" "We're very methodical in our security measures", was all Jack said, "and everyone expects the invasion to be progressing on course, civilian ships aren't allowed in this zone and military aren't allowed either without permission from Arthurs, also even if they did see the ships in orbit, its impossible for them to see what going down on the planet without an orbital telescope." "I still can't believe that the Federation is less than a planet away and yet there is nothing you can do to reach them", snarled Rachel, "it eats me up." Jack smirked, "how do you think I feel?"

Then Rachel remembered her earlier question and she again asked, "what did you mean when you said the Confederacy had been here before?" Jack's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched in thought and he seemed to be mulling over something tough. Finally he opened his mouth to speak, but an alarm klaxon cut him off, then a muffed explosion echoed through the base, the roof and walls shaking from the shock wave of the blast. The empty root beer bottle on the table fell over, drizzling onto the floor and the vacant chairs scattered throughout the room also fell over. Jack bared his teeth and jumped up out of his chair shouting, "computer, get me an image." The main screen in the room jumped to life as a picture of the area outside the base flashed on. A large forcefield now protected the area surrounding the base and in the skies overhead, squadrons of Confederate fighters and bombers converged on the base and in the distance, columns of Confederate infantry could be seen advancing through the snow towards the base as well. Jack gritted his teeth, "they're early."

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**I hope most of you got the answers you wanted, yes I didn't tell everything, but then where's the suspense and mystery in that? I'm probably going to be focusing more on the effects of the invasion in the next few chapters though expect a big battle to go down in the chapter 9!. Thanks and goodbye... for now!**


	9. Ch9: The Arctic Siege- P1: Ash to Dust

**Hello again my viewers, I have released this chapter due to crucial mistake on my part, I have not been addressing and answering my reviewers in my chapters. I didn't realize until recently that this is a major problem for users who only ****have guest accounts. I will be sure to be constant in addressing my reviewers in the future, so here are the addresses for the last chapter reviews.**

**Appleduck: Thank you! Yes it took me a very, VERY long time to come up with all that.**

**drax: Yeah, sorry for the vagueness, but if I gave away all the answers my story wouldn't be very mysterious or suspenseful would it?**

**Also big thank you to Book-Riley for the follow. Now for the chapter, this chapter is going to be split up into two parts. So, without further ado, here is chapter 9, part 1.**

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_"For those of you who serve in the Navy, let me tell you, ground combat is an eye opener", you never realize just how cushy your job is till you've got laser rounds flying past your head."_- Excerpt from an interview with a Federation veteran of the GGW

**KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger- 10 minutes earlier**

Numbahs 2552 and 1918 were supervising a group of junior cadets unloading weapons and ammo from the Moonbase ships when the first blasts hit. The startled cadets dropped their loads and quickly hit the ground as they were trained, Jonathan and Fritz stayed standing though. "Bloody hell, looks like they're early Wash", remarked Jonathan as he moved to help up some of the frightened cadets, "come on, get your butts off the ground and get back to work, those bombs can't touch you down here so get a move on!", he yelled at them. They snapped to obey, but the disturbance of it still showing on their faces. "Go easy on em John, it's their first real battle", eased Numbah 2552, he moved to take pick up some of the boxes the cadets had dropped, "still, if we don't get this ammo to the surface positions, it's also likely to be their last", he said in an undertone. "If these greenhorns had served during the Beach War then this wouldn't be a problem", boasted Jonathan, still shepherding the cadets, he too grabbed a box, "this is nothin, back then it was artillery barrages fives times a day, seven days week. Heck, even in those trenches I could sleep sound as a baby through a whole barrages and you'd still have to shake me awake", he laughed at his own comment. "Oh sure, sleepin through barrages is easy so easy, especially when you break into the admiral's soda stash before each shift", Fritz shot back, "hey!", exclaimed Jonathan indignantly, "I only did that three times! And may I remind you who was with me those three times?" Fritz grinned, "caught, but don't say that too loud, we wouldn't want Schmitt finding out where all his vintage root beer disappears to."

The two old comrades shared a laugh and left the hanger to deliver the ammo crates, on the way out they past Numbah 60, who was still trying to comfort Numbah 86. Fanny sat against the wall, knees tucked to her chest, she was still crying. Patton had his arm around her shoulder and sat next to her, normally the decommissioning officer would never allow anyone to do this to her, but today was far from normal. Patton, who knew absolutely nothing to say to a girl who had just watched her father be killed, simply sat beside her, offering her the warmth and comfort of his presence. Jonathan and Fritz stole a quick glance at the two as they passed. When they were a good distance down the hall and out of ear shot, Fritz remarked, "you know, I never thought I'd see the day when those two could be in a room without killing each other." "Times are changing Wash", replied Jonathan, "I just hope we survive to see what the world is like after this."

**KND Arctic Base: Command Center- Present**

"Damn, this is not good", remarked Schmitt, staring at the holo table as it projected images of the approaching Confederate army. "Judging by the disposition of their forces, I'd say that they're planning to take out the S.C.A.M.P.P. Cannons, then hit us with an orbital bombardment." "Is there any way we'd survive that?" asked Rachel, moving over to observe the holo table with Jack. "No, this base is deep beneath the ice, but ice won't stop a kinetic round from orbit", replied Jack, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, "theres no way we can hold out against this, so I'm putting my contingency plan into effect." Nigel frowned, "you have a contingency plan, what happened to 'all my plans have failed'?" "I said both my plans had failed", shot back Schmitt, "I didn't say that I didn't have more." Nigel rolled his eyes as Jack shot across the room. He ran over to the blacked out console that had been displaying the status of the treehouse worldwide before the Confederates had shot down the satellites, he quickly punched a few buttons and the image on the holo table was replaced by a revolving 3D projection of the Earth, showing the locations and status of the treehouse bases. "Before the Confederates shot down the satellites, the computer recorded all of the then current data on the tree houses", he quickly punched in a new set of orders and the display changed, showing the last recorded status' of the treehouse bases. Jack pointed at the image, "according to the data at least half the tree houses had been destroyed or taken, that was in ten minutes, its been", he checked his watch, "a half an hour, at the rate they were moving we would have lost the rest of Europe, South and Central America and at least half of the U.S., but that doesn't mean that the operatives at those bases were killed."

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out the KND Code Module, "I'm glad I 'borrowed this from the Moonbase before we evacuated, now if I plug this into the holo display, input the data from half an hour ago and run a cross scan with the last global radar sweep, I should be able to determine how many operatives survived the initial attack." As soon as he did this, small clusters of dots began appearing on the globe, "YES!" exclaimed Jack, "now according to this data, most of the operatives in Europe and Asia survived the first attacks, I have no idea if this data is accurate now, but this gives us a good idea of what to think." Jack paced around the table in thought, "Arthurs wants to take the planet quickly, based upon what we've seen up till now, it seems that the Confederates are only targeting immediate threats to their invasion." He ran a hand through his hair, thinking, "according to the data the largest concentration of operatives is here, or was, still it's the most we have to go on so I'm ordering all remaining sectors to make for Moscow and dig in." "Why Moscow, why not another city", questioned Rachel, "New York is closer and much more defendable." "No, that won't work" replied Jack, "the data shows the strongest concentration of Confederate forces here in America, consequently all major American cities should be under attack right now." He went over to one of the computer consoles and started punching in commands, "Moscow makes more sense, its defendable and the metro system there is built to withstand everything up to and including a nuclear strike, that'll give us some protection." He accessed the remaining satellites and began bringing up the com systems, "also, according to the map Russia itself has been touched little by the opening invasion force, Moscow should be relatively intact and deserted of adults."

An air raid siren started blaring and Jack switched the monitor he was working on over to video chat, an image of Numbah 1918 came on screen. "Report", ordered Jack, "We've secured the front entrances and the areas around the main guns, but the enemy is pushing towards the perimeter, the shield is up so the bombers are heading off, but the outer defenses are getting pounded by artillery", reported Jonathan. "Where are you?" demanded Jack, "we're holed up in the fleet labs over on the west side of the base, I'm actually in your old office right now", replied Jonathan, "we could really use some reinforcements." "You'll get them", said Jack and then he cut the connection, turning to Rachel and Nigel he said, "grab some operatives and head over to Jonathan's position, give him some help while I send out orders to the remaining sectors." "Who died and put you in charge?", demanded Rachel, "last time I checked I was still supreme leader." "And last time I checked, you didn't know how to fight a war", shot back Jack, "don't argue, just go!" Rachel looked at Nigel for support, but he just shrugged and headed for the door. On the way out Jack called over his shoulder, "oh, and one last thing, when you see Jonathan tell him and Fritz to stay out of my soda stash!"

**KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger**

Nigel and Rachel rushed back down the passageways and into the hanger, there they found Nigel's sector as well as a several other junior cadets, that were cowering inside several nearby C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.s. Sector V greeted them and Numbah 5 said, "hey guys, what kept ya?" The pair quickly filled Sector V in on their mission, "what kinds of weapons do we have down here", asked Nigel. "Not much", replied Numbah 2, "the rest of the operatives took most of them when they headed for the surface, all we've got down here is a M.U.S.K.E.T. for each operative, two S.C.A.M.P.P.s and a couple of G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.s." "It'll have to do", said Rachel, "Numbah 4, gather up those cadets and get them armed, we're going upstairs." "Yes ma'm", said Numbah 4, grinning with anticipation. Sector V and Rachel quickly chose weapons, they gave the S.C.A.M.P.P to Nigel and Numbah 4 while all the rest took G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. and they made their way up the forward passage to the surface. "So how do we get to the fleet labs?", asked Nigel, "the labs are a new section on the other side of the base", responded Rachel, "the passageways there are blocked by debris, so we'll have to detour via the surface and them take another entrance down into the western wing, but we'll have to cross the battlefield up top to do that." "Sounds good to me!" exclaimed Numbah 4, charging his S.C.A.M.P.P.

"By the way", said Numbah 5, "what were you and Schmitt talking about?" Nigel and Rachel quickly summarized what they had learned to the others. "Thats an unbelievable story", said Numbah 5, "even compared to what we get into." "I'm positive it's true", said Nigel, "the Confederates are proof of that." "Hold on though", said Numbah 2, "something doesn't add up." "What do you mean Numbah 2", questioned Rachel. "Schmitt refused to tell you his age, right?" "Yah, I thought that was weird too", replied Rachel, "but he looks like a kid and he certainly isn't 5ft tall with facial hair, so I guess he must be around 12 or so." Numbah 2 shook his head, "impossible, remember what he said about that galactic war?", "yes", replied Rachel, seeing where he was going with this, "what about it?" "Jack said the war was 10 years long, the KND records say he joined at age 9, the war must have ended before he joined so unless he was negative 1 when it started, he's obviously still lying to us." "You've got a point there", Rachel agreed, "so, he's still not telling us the the whole truth." "If he's lying about his age though", put in Numbah 5, "whos to say he wasn't lying about everything else?" "No no, that doesn't make any sense", said Nigel, "we know for sure the Confederates are Confederates and everything else in his story checks out and he doesn't have any reason to lie about the Federation since they can't do anything any way, why would he lie to us about something that we can't change or effect?" "Thats another good point", replied Rachel, "at the very least, he still has more secrets to tell us."

"Great, more secrets, as if we didn't have enough to worry about already", said Numbah 4." "Forget it for now, lets concentrate on the mission", said Numbah 1, "but when we get back I'm gonna have a serious talk with our friend the admiral." Rachel edged up close to Nigel so the others couldn't hear wouldn't hear what she said, "do you really think Jack was lying to us the whole time." "I don't know", said Nigel, "but if he was, he went to a lot of trouble to convince us." Rachel nodded and said, "I know, it doesn't make sense, but we've got to be more careful when dealing with him next time." "Either way", replied Nigel, "something just doesn't add up, first his age and then remember, he avoided your question about the Confederates first visit and we still don't know the exact reason why they went to all this trouble to attack Earth." Rachel nodded again and said, "yeah, its an awful lot of trouble to go invading a planet right next to a Federation world just out of hatred, I feel like there's something else going on here, something bigger." Neither of them could elaborate, so Rachel moved in beside Nigel for the rest of the journey as they both continued thinking.

**KND Arctic Base: Central Hanger- West Exit**

They soon came to an exit door, guarded by two battered operatives holding S.C.A.M.P.P.s. The two exchanged glances before opening the huge doors for Nigel and his party. As the doors opened the operative were immediately thrust into a totally different world. The door opened into a long, wide trench, with embankments running along the inside for soldiers to stand on and fire over the lip. Inside the trench, all was chaos, operatives ran to and fro, carrying weapons, distributing ammo and caring for wounded. The zaps and zinging sounds of KND laser weapons could be heard all throughout the trench along with the discharge of heavier weapons. In the distance loud bangs could be heard followed by whooshes of air and loud detonations, the sounds of artillery, though who it belonged to was impossible to tell. Smoke clogged the air from rifle discharges and steam billowed in huge clouds over the lip of the trench from the massed volleys of laser fire. Here and there, scorched and bleeding operatives lay on the ground or in stretchers as battered nurses and doctors attempted to heal their wounds. All around was the stench of blood, ash and smoke, combined with the constant fire of weapons and distant, earth rattling explosions combined to make a scene from hell. This is what Nigel and his sector walked into as they exited the confines of the base. A huge explosion suddenly lit up the top of the trench and several operatives on the embankment were lifted high into air and thrown down through the cloud of fire and soot to crash bodily into the snow. Medics quickly ran to their aid as more operatives rushed to fill their place on the wall.

Nigel, his sector and the cadets, knew not what to do in such a situation, the cadets huddled together and murmured in terror and Nigel sympathized with them, _Jack was right_, he thought,_ we aren't trained for this_. Nigel noticed a nearby operative who seemed to be trying to direct the chaos, he was shouting orders into a radio and making marks on a map laid out on a wooden board. Nigel ran over to him and shouted, "whats going on!" The operative looked up from his work and responded, gruffly, "I have no idea and who the heck are you, I'm busy." Then he recognized who Nigel was, "oh, Numbah 1, I didn't see it was you, how can I help?" Nigel yelled again, trying to make his voice heard over the clamor of explosions, "we need to get to the fleet labs, how do we get there from here?" "From here? Impossible", responded the operative, "this trench only runs along the outer perimeter of the central sections of the base. Access to fleet labs is a 100 yards away, cut off by the enemy advance." "We need to get there, is there any other way?" "No, we'd have to take those positions and there is no way I'm going out there", said the operative. Nigel noticed the operatives uniform was green and gray, the color of the KND fleet marines and said, "what kind of marine are you, I am ordering you to help us take that position." "With respect Numbah 1, its not your place to give me orders." "No, but it is mine", said Numbah 362, cutting in, "and **I **am ordering you to do as he says." "But.. but..(sigh) yes sir", said the operative.

He stood up and put on his helmet, then walked up to the lip of the trench, gesturing for Nigel's party to follow. When they got there, he said, "alright, when I give the order, stay behind us and run as fast as you can to the nearest entrance, don't stop and don't look back, except to take cover, got it?" "Got it", responded Nigel and the rest, "good", said the operative. He sighed, "I had hoped this crud would have ended with the Beach War, but here we go, over the top again." He blew a single shrill note on a whistle and immediately operatives in the trench rushed to fill all the spaces on the wall. The marine drew his weapon, a modified S.C.A.M.P.P., similar to the one used by Numbah 1918 and said to the assembled troops, "alright boys and girls, lets show these morons what we're made of, KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!", he yelled and the crowd cheered. The operative turned back to the lip and raised his arm, then brought it down in a sweeping motion, "CHARGE!"

Up and over the top they went, in one big mass, screaming and yelling, weapons held high. Then the shooting started. Nigel say a clump of operatives go down immediately after exiting the trench, their bodies jerked spasmodically as rounds tore through them before they dropped, dead into the snow. He only had time to widen his eyes before ducking under another barrage of rounds that flew straight over his head. Once again, all was chaos, the operatives charged towards the Confederate line, running flat out, firing wildly as they went. In the distance, Nigel saw one or two enemy soldiers drop as lucky shots picked off their helmets and sent them flying backwards. But the Confederates had numbers and training on their side and their deadly accurate shots dropped dozens of KND soldiers, leaving them to bleeding or dead in the snow. Nigel was still running, his breath came in ragged gasps and his feet moved clumsily through the thick snow, but he kept going. He had no idea where Rachel and the rest of his sector were. He was only aware of what was right in front of him.

On his right, a small squad of operatives who had been taking cover behind a snow drift, vanished in a ball of fire as an artillery shell landed right in their midst. The explosion knocked Nigel off his feet and sent him flying into a mound of snow. He groggily pulled himself to his feet, but quickly fell down on his knees. He felt dizzy and sick and was vaguely aware of a strange pulling sensation on his right arm. Pulling? He looked up and saw the marine from before grasping his right arm, trying to pull him up with one hand. In the other he fired his S.C.A.M.P.P. at something out of Nigel's vision. As the operatives pulled Nigel to his feet, he was curiously aware that the marine was firing his S.C.A.M.P.P. on full-auto, _must be a new feature_, he thought to himself, dazed.

His hearing wasn't working very well and he was vaguely aware of a distant voice shouting, "get up... get up" _Wait what?_, Nigel thought, he shook himself and his hearing popped back into place, now he could hear the marine. He was screaming, "GET UP, GET UP AND GET MOVING!" The marine shoved Nigel's S.C.A.M.P.P. back into his arms, he had dropped it when he fell into the snow mound and pointed toward the outline of an entrance in the distance, "get over there and get through that door, I'll cover you!" he shouted and began firing his weapon in short bursts behind Nigel. Nigel slowly as first, then quickly began sprinting towards the entrance. Another explosion sounded to his left and his feet faltered for a moment, but he kept running. _I have to keep going, I have to make it, I will make it!_

He made it to the entrance before the marine and jumped through the doorway. On the other side he was met by Rachel and his sector who had been waiting. Nigel let out a long sigh, "I was worried we wouldn't make it for a sec..." "GET DOWN!", yelled the marine from outside, then a massive blast shook the hallway and bright light filled Nigel's vision and he was partially aware of the feeling of flying through the air, before he smacked into something cold and hard and knew nothing more.

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**And that was Chapter 9, finally gave you some action huh? Well I'll leave you on this little cliff hanger, goodnight and please remember to keep reviewing!**


	10. Ch10: The Arctic Siege-P2: Close Combat

**Hello fans and viewers, its been a long break but I'm finally back with chapter 10. Thanks so much to those of you who have favorited and kept up with my story, and on that note here are the responses to the last chapter's reviewers.**

**Gamewizard2008: Yes, yes it is, next to the last day of the ARCHIVE war.**

**AceShadow: Already responded to most of your comments through PM. Again, I'm sure that any similarities will remain brief and pass quickly.**

**Also thanks go out to AceShadow and DarkForte777 for the favorite and the follow as well as Zilla 2000 for the follow. Now that thats over with, let us start chapter 10!**

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_"...Quote, what quote." -Jackrkazi141FTW_

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**Nigel's Mind**

There was ash and soot in the air, the sky was black with clouds and a faint wind scythed through the air, blowing waves of dust and dirt across a barren plain. Nigel floated over this depressing scene, eyes wide with fear and amazement. "Where am I, what is this place", he murmured to himself as he flew through clouds of ash and dust. The smoke wafting up from the plain was heavy and the ash and soot was thick, but for some reason it didn't blind his vision, nor did he choke or cough. In fact he found that he could breath quite freely, _thats impossible,_he thought, _this has to be a dream or... _The thought struck him suddenly, the mere idea of it giving him hope, _what if this whole day, the invasion, the battle at the Arctic Base, Schmitt, what if its just been another dream caused by that happy headband, what if this whole time I've just been sitting back on Earth somewhere going through some big endless dream?_

Excitedly, he tried to force himself to grow as he had the last time he'd been in the headbands thrall. It didn't work, _ok, how about this, _he tried clicking his heels together, but found his feet and legs wouldn't budge. _Well there goes that idea, _thought Nigel, disappointedly, _well if I'm not wearing the headband and this isn't a dream, what is it? _He became vaguely aware that he was descending through the clouds towards the ground. He tried to control that too, but again nothing happened, as though he was just watching some movie or on some amusement park ride. Nigel's shoes touched the ground, kicking up small clouds of ash in the process, Nigel felt the firm ground beneath his feet and realized that he could now move his legs. He again tried clicking his heels, but to no avail.

Nigel grumbled and frustratedly kicked up a cloud of dust. It was then he noticed how quiet it was, the smoke had vanished and the plain was empty. On a whim he called out, "hello, is anyone there?" His voice echoed across the plain and at first nothing happened. Then the plain began to change, grass sprouted from it, trees grew and began to blossom and in the distance a city appeared. Nigel squinted into the distance trying to make out details but the sun was in his eyes and he couldn't see. Then suddenly, there was a boy standing next to him, he wore what might once have been a uniform, but was now tattered and worn beyond recognition. Over this, he wore a hooded cloak of dark grey which obscured his face. Nigel started at the boy's sudden appearance, cautious he tapped the boys shoulder, but his hand passed right through him. _What the.. _he waved his hands in front of the boys face, no use.

Sighing, he turned to start walking away, only to find that the world had changed again. This time he was on a balcony, thrust out over a massive city plaza. A crowd of cheering kids filled the plaza, yelling, pumping fists in the air and chanting something over and over again, though he couldn't exactly make out what it was. A teenager stood on the edge of the balcony, clothed in a mismatched uniform of sorts. He seemed to be making a speech of some kind, gesturing wildly and yelling something out at the crowd. Over the incoherent yelling and cheers, Nigel heard a voice, a voice that seemed to come out of no where. It whispered, "_what happened once will happen again._" He turned around sharply, but there was no one there.

The voice continued, "_we shall rise from the ashes, the legacy of our great empire shall return and exact rightful vengeance_." The scene changed again, Nigel was on a battlefield, kids left and right charged past him into the distance, rifles cracked and bullets whizzed past his head, though none touched him. In the distance, Nigel saw what looked like adult soldiers firing on the mass of kids, explosions lit up left and right and a mass chorus of yells and screams split the air. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bright yellow, gold banner flutter down from the sky and sprawled across the ground, on it was a symbol, an eagle of red, outlined in black. The voice kept speaking, "_our ancient enemy will be brought to kneel for the blood he has spilled. And from this day till the end of days, we will never forget and we will never forgive, Nigel_." "Wha.. what do you mean?! Who are you?!", Nigel yelled at the sky, but the battlefield was gone, replaced by only blackness, but voice continued, repeating the name over and over, "_Nigel, Nigel, NIGEL!_"

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**KND Arctic Base: Western Section- Fleet Labs**

"Nigel wake up, NIGEL!", someone was yelling at him, slowly Nigel opened his eyes and saw Rachel kneeling beside him. Relief flooded her eyes as she said, "finally, you had me worried there for a moment." "Uggghhh", groaned Nigel, he sat up and cast his eyes, groggily, over the room. They were still inside the entrance to the western section of the base, though now the entrance was blocked by a large pile of snow and debris. The ice walls were cracked in some places, broken pieces of wood and metal lay on the floor and dangling from the ceiling here and there where the remains of some piece of 2X4 technology.

Nigel groaned again, "wha... what happened", he managed, his jaw was killing him. Concern crossed Rachel's face, she bit her lip and said, "the explosion threw you straight across the room into a wall, knocked you out cold." Examining him, she took the hem of her jacket and wiped some blood off of Nigel's face, "your pretty banged up, but you should be fine, though it looks like you'll have a bump on your head for a few days." Curious, Nigel jerked his arm off the ground and felt the top of his head, she was right, there was a pretty sizable bump there. When he attempted to touch it, it sent a wave of pain through his skull, "ouch!" he managed through gritted teeth.

Frowning, Rachel said, "well don't touch it, here", she grabbed some ice off the ground and pressed it Nigel's head, then taking some clothe from her pocket, she proceeded to tie it in place. Nigel grunted, "don't spend so much time on me, help the others", Rachel tutted, "they're all fine, besides they don't have swelling head injuries." Finishing her work, she stood up and offered Nigel her hand, "can you stand?" "I think so", said Nigel, unsure, grasping her hand, he pulled himself up off the ground and leaned against the wall. Then, slowly, he proceeded to test his legs, walking around in a few circles before performing a little jump into a triumphant pose. Rachel couldn't help giggling, "wow, you could run a marathon", Nigel grinned, then winced in pain from his head, "maybe not just yet", he said with a wry smile.

Going over to pick up his rifle, he stopped as the S.C.A.M.P.P. was replaced by the yellow and red flag from his vision. "What the..", he winced and shook his head, the flag disappeared, replaced with his rifle. Caressing the bump on his head he thought, _just what the heck happened to me?_ "Nigel, is everything alright?", Rachel sounded concerned, she put a hand on his shoulder, "what is it?" Nigel shook his head again to clear his thoughts, "nothing... I'll tell you later, lets keep moving." Rachel looked like she wanted to inquire further, but she nodded and brought out her weapon.

Together they raced down the corridor, back into the bowls of the base. On the way Rachel filled him in on the rest, "you were out for about 5 minutes, I sent the rest of the guys forward to scout ahead, Jack's office is a few corridors away from here, thats where Numbahs 2552 and 1918 should be." "Great", replied Nigel, "lets get this over with and get out of here, by the way did everyone make it through." Saddened, Rachel stayed quiet for a moment then murmured, "all of sector V did, but... we lost most of the junior cadets during the charge and two more died during the cave in... as well as that marine who was following you." Nigel gritted his teeth, so many operatives lost and so many good kids dead, but what was it all for, what was the point of all this slaughter.

Remembering the words from his vision Nigel thought, _what happened once will happen again, okay what happened, and an ancient enemy, what enemy? Am I going nuts? _He remembered how his memory loss felt just like a decommissioning wipe, but he'd never been decommissioned before, so how would he know how that felt? _What is happening to me, did the Confederates do something to me?_ The questions would not go away, but they had to wait. Pushing them to the back of his mind, Nigel tried to focus on the mission at hand as he and Rachel rounded a bend and came face to face with the rest of sector V. The two sides quickly raised their weapons, before lowering them with quick sighs of relief, "boy did you guys give us a scare", said Numbah 5, sauntering over, "hows the head Numbah 1?" "Okay", replied Nigel, "not great, but I'll live, what did you find?"

Numbah 5 jerked a finger over her shoulder, "absolutely nothing, this whole place is deserted, Jack's office should be just around the next bend so I'd keep on your toes." She'd just finished saying this when an explosion blew through the wall right up ahead of them. Out of the smoke emerged a squad of Confederate soldiers, wearing armor and enclosed combat helmets. The leader of the group, upon seeing Nigel and his party, raised his weapon and said, "squad, open fire!" The Confed soldiers brought their weapons to bear on the KND troops.

Nigel looked around for some cover, but the corridor was bare, not knowing what else to do he yelled and charged the squad, firing his S.C.A.M.P.P. as he went. The rest of the sector V followed suit, bellowing battle cries and charging the line of soldiers, began shooting. By sheer luck, none of the soldiers hit Nigel, as he closed the short distance between him and the group of soldiers, the nearest trooper dropped his rifle and drew his pistol and combat knife. Before he could bring his gun up, Nigel tackled him to the ground, knocking the pistol away. They rolled on the floor, as the soldier tried to bring his knife up, Nigel twisted under his reach and punched him in the neck. The soldier gagged from the punch and kicked Nigel in the chest, knocking him away.

Nigel was vaguely aware of the rest of his team fighting hand to hand with the other soldiers, but he was too focused on the trooper in front of him to notice. The soldier jumped to his feet and charged him, holding his knife in his right hand, blade out as he prepared to slash at Nigel. Nigel curiously noticed the soldier was only slightly taller than himself, as he pivoted to the left and under to avoid the soldier's strike, as he brought the knife cutting through the air. Having missed, the soldier switched his momentum to the other foot and swung his knife straight to the right, intending to stab Nigel in the chest.

Nigel blocked by intercepting the soldier's knife arm with his own, they stood deadlocked for a second, the soldier trying to force Nigel's arm aside. Seeing an opening, Nigel punched the soldier in the gut, before jumping back to push off the wall with his left foot, propelling his body forward. The soldier tried to duck but Nigel was too quick and delivered a vicious kick to the soldier's face. The soldier was knocked off his feet and he fell heavily onto the floor.

As the soldier hit the ground, his helmet fell off, allowing Nigel to see his face. It was the face of a young boy, possibly no older than 10 and he looked so... normal that he could have even gone to Nigel's old elementary school. The innocence of it made him hesitate, _I swore to protect kids not fight them, what am I doing?! _The other boy showed none of Nigel's hesitation.

Wiping a trickle of blood from his face he snarled and leapt to his feet and dashed at Nigel, knife held firmly, ready to strike. Nigel was caught off guard by the soldier's speed and ferocity, he tried to dodge the blade but it was not use, the knife came at him, slashing across his chest and through his clothes and pain and the shock of it hit him like a tidal wave, he staggered back, so unprepared for the rush of agony that seemed to ooze out of the wound on his chest.

Sensing Nigel's momentary weakness, the soldier punched him in the face with his knife hand, hurling him to the ground. As the soldier prepared to bring the knife down on Nigel's chest, instinct kicked in. He rolled to the side, avoiding the soldier's thrust, then scrambled frantically on the ice, trying to get away.

On his hands and knees, he slipped on the ice covering the floor and went down with a solid thud. A shadow crossed his back and rolled over again onto his back to avoid the soldier's second strike. Then a heavy boot planted itself hard on Nigel's chest, driving the wind out of him. Dazed, he stared at the ceiling, legs and arms splayed out across the ground. The soldier stood over him, preparing to deliver the death blow.

Though dazed, Nigel's fingers still scrabbled frantically across the floor, looking for something, anything to use as a weapon. He felt a piece of metal graze his fingers and he ripped it from the ground and pointed it at the soldier, in a final attempt to block in the incoming blow. A loud bang sounded and the soldier jerked as if struck, then Nigel saw him fall face forward onto the ground, a small black hole blown through his chest.

Confused Nigel looked around, trying to discern what had just happened. Then the realization struck him and glanced fearfully at what he held in his hand. It was the soldier's pistol. Suddenly, more shots sounded, but not the sharp crack of Confederate rifles, but rather the dull zap of KND weapons. Several of the other soldiers locked in combat around him jerked spasmodically as they were hit with multiple shots, the laser fire cracking and burning their armor and skin. The rest of the soldiers fell bodily to the ground.

A group of KND soldiers came running down towards Nigel's group from the other end of the corridor. At their head was Numbah 1918, his still smoking S.C.A.M.P.P. held close to his chest. The soldiers came level with the group and 1918 immediately began barking orders, "alright 19-2 and 18-3, you go assess the wounded, the rest of you go secure the perimeter, move double time!" The soldiers snapped to obey as 1918 moved to inspect Rachel, "are you alright sir?", Rachel had been hit in the shoulder with the butt of a Confederate rifle, leaving a large bruise, though none could see it and had a small cut on here arm from a glancing knife blow. Even so, she shook her head wearily, "I'm fine, see to the others first", she stood up on her own, wincing slightly at the strain in her bruised arm, "thanks for the save by the way, you guys made it here just in time."

1918 grinned slightly, "I'm a marine, its what we do", he moved on to inspect the next wounded kid, as Rachel moved to go tend to the other members of her squad, her foot brushed up against the body of one of the Confederate soldiers. His body was limp, curious Rachel stooped down to inspect the soldier. She lifted the helmet off his head and to her horror, she found herself looking at the face of a young boy. Her horror grew as she soon discovered that he was not stunned, but dead.

Horrified and angry, she yelled out, "numbah 1918, get over here!" The marine sergeant soon appeared, he appeared curious, "what is it sir?", she pointed at the dead body, "did you do this?", she asked angrily. 1918 stared down at the body, then looked at her confusedly, "maybe not me, but one of my soldiers probably did, why." Rachel could not believe what she was hearing, "wh... why! That is a kid, a human kid lying there and you have the audacity to ask me why!"

1918 responded cooly, "that boy was an enemy soldier, he tried to kill you and he would have tried to kill us, so we killed him first, I don't understand what your getting at here sir?" Rachel exploded, "we're Kids Next Door, we don't kill people least of all fellow kids, we don't even kill adults, when did it ever become right for the Kids Next Door, or for anyone to do this!" 1918 eyed her, when he spoke his voice carried a hint of irritation, "we're at war right now sir, this is what happens in war, and if there is an enemy threatening you with a loaded weapon, I don't care if he's an adult, kid or some kind of mutant alien, your first and only reaction should be to shoot him."

Rachel tried to muster a response, but couldn't, his logic made perfect sense, but she just couldn't see it. _We're KND operatives, we're protectors, freedom fighters, not killers and soldiers. We protect kids, we don't slaughter them, this is all just... wrong! _As she attempted to wrap her head around 1918's logic, Schmitt's words from earlier came back to her, _anyone is capable of anything and before this war is over you will know just how far that extends. _He seemed to have meant it in a bad way, but she now realized the wisdom in it, _anyone can do anything for good or for bad. _She glanced back at the dead soldier, _but it's still not right, _she thought.

Walking through the remains of the battle, she finally found who she was looking for. Nigel was lying on the ground with his back against the wall, jittering slightly. Rachel rushed over to him, kneeling beside him she saw the pistol lying near his body as well as the dead soldier nearby. _Oh no, _she thought, "1918, get over here", 1918 walked over to her, grumbling slightly, "what is it now sir, I'm in the middle of...", he trailed off as he saw Nigel. 1918's gaze swept between Nigel, the gun and the soldier next to him, "aw crap", he grunted.

He called out, "I need a medic over here!", before crouching down beside Nigel with Rachel. Rachel was starting to panic, "what wrong with him?", 1918 waved his hand in front of Nigel's eyes and pressed his fingers to his neck. Pulling back he announced, "fast pulse, dis-focused eyes and jittering, he's shell shocked", he gazed over at the pistol, "first time, happens to some people if they aren't prepared for the reaction." The medic he called for arrived and knelt in front of Nigel, 1918 took Rachel over to the side while he worked, "he shot the soldier, it was his first time killing someone and now he's shell shocked, he'll be fine, but we need to get him to the outpost before we can help him"

Gesturing to the medic, 1918 grabbed Nigel roughly by the arm and hauled him to his feet, the medic grabbed hold of Nigel's other arm. "It's a bit of a way to the outpost and he's too heavy to carry so we'll have to take it slowly", remarked 1918. Together, they started moving Nigel down the corridor, the rest of 1918's squad moved in to provide front and rear protection with sector V and Rachel bringing up the middle. 1918 grunted as they hauled Nigel through the hallway, "would it kill this guy to lay off the meatball sandwiches."

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**C.W.S. Harbinger: Polar Orbit**

A dull explosion rocked the bridge as one of the Confederate escort frigates took a direct hit to it's prow. Arthur's watched impassively as the explosion from the hit tore through the ship's armor, ripping a gouge in it's bow plating. Simultaneously, numerous other smaller explosions rocked the ship as the exposed chambers on the ship explosively decompressed into the vacuum. His comms officer swiveled to deliver the report, "sir that hit took out the _Derringer's _shields, she's falling back to effect repairs. Arthur's gritted his teeth in frustration, holding orbit over the arctic was proving much more difficult than he'd anticipated. Checking the status of the numerous other escorts and capital ships that had followed through on the Arctic assault, his frustration grew as he realized that they would not be able to hold this orbit for long without reinforcements.

There as only one course of action left. His mind set, Arthurs stood up from his command chair and gestured to the navigator, "move the Harbinger into the atmosphere, prepare for orbital bombardment." "But sir", the navigator protested, "that will leave us vulnerable to attack, we won't be able to evade their AO fire!" "Our shields can take it", replied Arthurs, "move us into position and prep for immediate bombardment!" The weapons officer cut in, "but sir, our troops are still down there...", "give the commanders 10 minutes to pull back, now follow my orders, this ends now!"

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**WOOOO, that took forever, however this is only half of what I wanted to write for chapter 10, the rest of the battle for the Arctic Base will be closed up in chapter 11. Also, Nigel's dream/vision is going to play a big part in the story later, so pay attention to that. Till next time this Jackrkazi asking you to please comment and review. **


	11. Ch11: The Arctic Siege-P3: Downfall

**Well this didn't take nearly as long as the last chapter, So glad for that. I'm having a few problems with Chapter 12, so don't expect that anytime soon, but it is great to finally wrap of this battle. Here is the list of feedback:**

**Gamewizard2008: Yes he is kinda green that way, but he'll get better overtime. **

**AceShadow: Thanks for noticing! Yes, KND weapons have been modified to kill, we'll get to a bit of that in this chapter.**

**Ok, time to start this.**

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_"Nothing, good or evil, lasts forever." -_Anonymous

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**KND Arctic Base: Western Section- Fleet labs**

The small group of KND soldiers edged down the corridor, the younger operatives jumping every time an explosion sounded in the distance. Rachel was apprehensive, after that last little battle she had no desire to encounter anymore Confederates anytime soon. As a result, she was relieved when the group rounded the last bend and finally arrived at the outpost. The door inside was locked tight and reinforced with steel plating, a pair of KND soldiers manning what looked like heavy machine guns, stood guard outside. When they saw 1918 coming down the corridor, they relaxed and went back to watching the end of the corridor.

Handing Nigel over to the medic, Jonathan walked up to the door and wrapped his knuckles against it. "Whats the password!", a muffled voice demanded from the other side, "Cody you doofus, its me! Open the door!", replied Jonathan irritatedly. A loud thud sounded from the other side of the door and it swung open to reveal a short operative dressed in the same uniform that Jonathan was wearing.

A S.M.E.L.L.M.E.T. covered his face and as Jonathan walked through the door the operative reached up and pushed the helmet off his head so it hung by the collar across his back. Cody grinned, "sorry Jonathan, but I can't be too careful can I?" Jonathan wasn't in a joking mood, "stow it Cody we've got wounded, get your medics out here, also we got one more shell shock victim on our hands." Cody sighed deeply, "great", was all he said. Rachel walked up to the two as the medics came out of the outpost and began tending to the wounded while herding the others inside.

"You've had more cases of shell shock?", she asked, Cody looked at her grimly, "sister you don't know the half of it." Rachel crossed her arms, "I'm still the Supreme Commander Numbah 34-4." Cody blanched and let off a quick salute, "sorry sir!" Rachel eyed him curiously, Cody hadn't changed since the last time she'd seen him, which was all the way back at last years christmas party. He had medium length sandy blond hair, light green eyes and a slightly freckled face. If she was to sum up one word to describe him it would be: young. She considered him for a second, this was the kind of kid the war should be hitting the hardest, after what she'd seen of him before hand she'd expected him to be quaking in his boots like the rest of the junior operatives.

But here he was, neither frightened nor cowering, standing his ground like the rest of his comrades. _If he can do it, well then theres no reason we can't as well, _on another note she also began thinking about how she appeared to the troops right now, _Jack was right, I can't be showing any weakness right now, these kids look up to me for leadership, if I appear weaker than them, they'll lose all hope. _A voice jolted her out of her thoughts, "sir, we gotta go", "huh?", she spoke as if coming out of a dream. Jonathan was looking at her, "we have to seal up the doors, come inside." "Right", she replied, following him inside, she mentally kicked herself for taking too long, _hows that gotta look, your supreme commander staring off into the distance for no reason like some dazed moron! I'm such an idiot! _

The doors swung shut and a pair of operatives moved a large bar over them, locking it in place and effectively sealing the doors. Rachel surveyed the inside of the "outpost". It was a large chamber, created at a four way intersection in the corridors. One of the corridors led to another sealed off door, the next was open and led to a small room that housed what used to be a weapons lab (she could tell from the loads of spare gun parts and broken prototypes scattered across the floor and hanging from the walls). In that room she saw a couple of 2x4 tech specialists that seemed to be working on fixing some of the weapons there. The last room was a small office, she assumed it was Schmitt's, inside she saw a few operatives surveying a map of the base, while another operative sat in front of a radio station with a headset on, writing down some data on a clipboard.

The rest of the outpost was pretty bare save for a corner that was cluttered in stuff from the labs and another corner that was serving as a temporary hospital. Around the room a few operatives sat here and there, chatting, cleaning their guns or tinkering with pieces of equipment. Jonathan was standing over near the hospital corner and she quickly made her way over to him. He was talking with Cody about something, but when she walked up they ceased all chatter. Jonathan gestured to her and they walked through the small medical encampment.

Here, operatives lay on roll out matts or stretchers, others sat agains the wall with blankets pulled over them. A few of the operatives only had minor injuries, Rachel saw evidence of sprained ankles, concussions, a few operatives who had lost their hearing and one or two broken bones. As they walked down the rows though, the injuries became more serious: bullet wounds, some shrapnel damage and here and there, a missing limb. Rachel had to shield her eyes during those parts. Finally they reached the last row of patients, these must have been the shell shock victims as Rachel saw operatives jittering, a few were curled up in balls and muttering things to themselves and others just lay there, staring off into space.

Near the end of the last row, they found Nigel, he was laid out on a stretcher and was likewise staring off into space, while a medic performed some tests on him. Rachel tried not to look worried, "is... is he gonna be alright?", she asked the medic. The medic stood up and rubbed his hands together, "yeah, he'll do just fine, his case was one of the weaker conditions we've had to deal with so far, he's pretty stable right now, I'm gonna give him a stim shot and when he starts becoming more responsive we'll give him some gum to chew on and some soda, that usually works."

"Hold on a sec... did you say a shot!", Rachel was horrified, "we never use shots! Every kid hates shots!" The medic grinned, "sorry sir, thats not really what it is, here." He produced a device from his belt. It was a small grey canister, that was featureless save for a slot on the side and a red button on the top that was covered with a see-through cap of plastic, also the bottom of the device was covered in tons of tiny, pin prick sized holes. The medic produced a small vial from his kit and loaded it into the device. Then he pressed the device against Nigel's neck.

Before she could move to stop him, the medic had flipped open the cap on top and pressed the button. The device gave off a slight hsssssss, sound, then it let out a beep and the button blinked green. The medic removed the device from Nigel's neck and ejected the now empty vial on to the floor, "see, harmless", he said. He was right, there were no punctures in Nigel's neck, nor was there any blood showing.

Still, Rachel was tense, she had been moments away from slapping the device straight out of the medic's hands. It was then that she noticed the pressure on her right shoulder and she turned to look. Numbah 1918 had put his down there, quite firmly, while the medic had been using the device. It could have been seen as a gesture of reassurance, but Rachel saw through that, if she'd lunged at the medic, he would have restrained her. While interrupting an unknown medical procedure is not the smartest course of action to begin with, she was still slightly angry at the disrespect he was showing her.

She was beginning to realize the big picture here. These were Schmitt's soldiers, his marines, his doctors, the kids he had led and fought beside since the Beach War. They would only follow her orders if it were necessary, Supreme Commander or not, and in that instant, she realized that she couldn't trust them. She knew she could trust the regular KND operatives, but the fleet personnel were another story now. Their loyalty belonged to only one person: Schmitt, and he was anything but trustworthy right now.

Now that she realized the situation she was getting into, she let the issue drop and turned to the medic, who had gone back to tending to Nigel. He looked up at her, "I gave him the regular dose, he'll be up and about in a few minutes." She nodded and walked out of the hospital, back towards the center of the room, Jonathan followed her. As she walked he explained to her, "its not really a shot, its really called an infuser, but the medics have taken to calling it a shot for some reason. It's one of the few pieces of USF tech that Schmitt was able to leak to us, I don't really know how it works, but it diffuses medicine through your skin right into your bloodstream rather than injecting it. Apparently the Federation kids hate shots just as much as we do."

"Really", she said, half listening. Jonathan took a stick of gum from his pocket and began chewing on it, "he was lucky, if he'd picked up a KND weapon instead of a Confederate one he'd be dead now, just plain lucky..." "Whys that?", she asked, curious, "I though our weapons worked on the Confederates, your's obviously did." Jonathan grunted and directed her over to the pile of supplies in the corner, near the pile was a small heap of cannibalized KND weapons.

Jonathan gestured towards them, "as you can imagine, our more... inventive weapons like those G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.s you guys were using, have little to no effect on Confederate troops." Jonathan patted the S.C.A.M.P.P. on his back, "only laser weapons like these have any chance of getting through their armor, but as you should know, all our laser weapons only have the power to stun or KO enemies, they can't kill, so..." He withdrew a small cylinder from his belt, it looked similar to the medic's infuser but it was black instead of grey and was completely featureless, save for what looked like a USB port on one end and a single, glowing red stripe on the top.

Jonathan hefted the device, it was only about the size of his hand, "...the fleet techs came up with these, superchargers or L.E.M.s as the tech boys have started calling them. You can bolt this into just about any KND laser weapon and it increases the power output by tenfold, thats what allows our weapons to kill." He tossed the device to Rachel, "I told Cody a few minutes ago to start handing these out to those operatives you brought", "thanks", she replied, catching it deftly, "whys it called a L.E.M.?" Jonathan shrugged, "stands for Laser Enhancement Module, I still prefer supercharger though." Eyeing the G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. she was carrying he said, "you'd better grab a S.C.A.M.P.P., theres a few in the command center."

Rachel shrugged, dropping her gun onto the pile as the two of them started towards the command center, "how do we get more of these, we're gonna need a lot of we want to outfit the whole KND with them." Jonathan grinned, "actually, they're pretty easy to make, we made most of these with parts from those weapons you saw back there, Schmitt was going to include the blueprints in the message he sent out to the other sectors, so we should be covered on that account." "Good", she replied, "but that just causes another problem, we don't have enough laser weapons to give to every KND operative, each sector has full selection of every weapon, but there's no telling if they managed to make off with them or got the the blueprints in time."

Jonathan grunted, "nothing we can do about that, so don't worry about it." They got to the command center inside Schmitt's office, somebody had laid around a dozen S.C.A.M.P.P.s agains the wall and she quickly grabbed one and slapped in the L.E.M., which fit snuggly in place inside the soup can on the gun. Jonathan walked over to the radio guy, who handed him the clipboard he had been using, he frowned as he saw its contents, "looks like we've lost the southern front and the Confederate artillery batteries have destroyed around half of our AA guns, this is not good." He gestured towards a cabinet on the other side of the room, "help yourself to some root beer, Schmitt brews the best stuff around, just don't tell him we took any, okay?"

Rachel shook her head, "thanks, but I've already had a taste, that reminds me, Schmitt says to stay out of his stash." Hearing this, Jonathan and the other marines in the room turned pale, "you mean, he knows we've been taking his soda?", one of the marines asked nervously. "Thats right", replied Rachel in an amused tone, "he also told me tell Numbah 2552 when I see him." Jonathan turned an extra shade paler, he glanced nervously towards the near empty soda cabinet, "oh man, he's kill me when he finds out about this."

Rachel chuckled with delight at their discomfort and walked over to the map, the kids who had been studying it made room for her. She frowned, "Schmitt never told us, but why did you need our help anyway and wheres Numbah 2552?" Jonathan put on his serious face and walked over, gesturing to the map he said, "this is the most important section of the base, this section houses the two things critical to our defense, the energy shields and the S.C.A.M.P.P. cannons, we were sent here to defend both." "And those are...", she asked with annoyance, she really was getting tired of being kept out of the loop on these things. "Right", said Jonathan sheepishly, "look, the cannons are basically what their name implies, they're S.C.A.M.P.P.s the size of cannons which fire particle beams instead of lasers, again USF tech, we can use them to shoot down the Confederate warships in orbit." "Okay, and the shields?", "more USF tech, basically its a solidified shield of energy that covers the base, not in a dome, but directly above the base, it's whats protecting us from artillery and air strikes", went Jonathan.

He pointed to the map, "the AA guns are elevated above the shield to shoot at aircraft, so they're open to attack, so are the cannons, but we were able to form a small open topped shield bubble around the cannons to protect them from artillery fire." He ran a finger in a circle around the western entrances to the base, "however, we don't have the power to extend the shield around the whole base, so it only protects the main sections, the defense lines and entrances aren't shielded, so the Confederates have been trying to push in through to this complex to take out the guns, that would allow the them free rein to bring down their warships and bomb us into ashes." He finished by pointing to a small circle marked on the map, "all main western entrances converge at this point here, Fritz is holding down the line there with the other 6 squads of marines that were stationed here."

Jonathan turned to Rachel, "you were sent here to help us hold this outpost so...", he was cut off as an especially big explosion rocked the room, sending showers of snow and ice cascading down from the ceiling. "What the hell was that!", one of the marines exclaimed, suddenly the radio operator shouted out, "sir I've got a message coming in from the admiral, he says that the Confederate flagship has changed course and is heading straight for the upper atmosphere, also all Confederate troops have fallen back from the base." "Damn!", swore Jonathan, "they're gonna hit us with an orbital bombardment!, can we stop them?" "No sir, fire command reports that our shots can't get through their shields, the admiral is ordering a full evacuation, we're to take everything we can and head to the rally point at Moscow."

"Get me the admiral now!", ordered Jonathan; as if to support her earlier thought, Rachel noted how the operatives continued to call Schmitt by his old rank, even though he wasn't technically part of the KND anymore. The radio officer hit some buttons on his console and an image of Schmitt back in the command center popped up on the wall mounted monitor. He looked angry, "what is it Jonathan, I'm busy packing up the command center so you better make this quick." Jonathan snapped to attention as he made his reply, "sir we're cut off from the main part of the base, the Confederates destroyed the east exits and theres no way we'll make it out of the western entrances in time, we need an airlift!" Schmitt dismissed this with a wave of his hand, "I've already got S.K.Y.C.L.A.W.s on the way to extract the cannons and the shield generator, I'll divert some rescue S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s to evac your men, but make it quick, I give us about 15 minutes before they get into firing range!"

"Will do", said Jonathan, he cut the connection, walked out to the middle of the room and shouted, "alright marines, we are leaving! Pack up everything you can and head to landing bay 23 down the hallway, medics get the wounded moving towards the evac point, squad 1 your with me, move move!" The room was a flurry of activity as the operatives swept into action, packing up ammo crates, helping patients to their feet or loading them into stretchers and grabbing all the extra weapons they could see. The sentries on the far side of the room opened up the other pair of locked doors and the operatives streamed out towards the landing bay.

Jonathan slammed on his helmet and unslung his S.C.A.M.P.P. as he prepared to move, the operatives in the command center began packing up the maps and radio equipment as they moved to join their comrades. Jonathan turned and addressed radio officer, "get Numbah 2552 on the line and tell him to move to the evac point as well, then pack up the rest of this stuff get going." "Yes sir!", he replied and immediately sat down to transmit the message. Rachel turned to Jonathan, "I'll go get the cadets ready to move, we'll follow you to the landing bay." "Alright", he replied, "just tell them not to drag their feet, in a few minutes this base is gonna be toast."

He ran out of the command center, followed by Cody and his command squad, leaving Rachel alone in the office. She walked out to the room and headed over to sector V, who were helping a now conscious Nigel across the room. She was relieved to see him up and about, she just hoped he would agree with what she had planned, there was very little time. Nigel saw her coming and stumbled over to her, sector V followed. As he came level with her and she opened her mouth to tell him what she intended, but was cut off as he hugged her roughly. It was less of a hug and more a matter of him throwing his arms around her to support himself but still, she couldn't describe how happy it made her to hold him close again.

He released her and stood back to steady himself, "that was a bit rougher than I expected", he said. She gave him a quick half smile, she wanted to ask him how he was doing, but there was no time and instead just cut to the chase, "its good to see you up Nigel, listen I've got a plan, but I need you to trust me on this one, alright?" He nodded, "ok, what is it?" She looked around, most of the remaining operatives were clustered near the exit and out of earshot so she leaned in and said, "we all know Schmitt is still hiding things from us, when the last of the fleet operatives leave, I want you guys to help me search his office before we head to the evac point."

Nigel frowned, "I don't know Rachel, the guys told me we only have 15 minutes to get out of here, we're gonna have to make this quick." She smiled reassuringly, "don't worry, it won't take more than 3 minutes to search the office, then its a quick 4 minute sprint to the landing bay and that leaves us 8 whole minutes to get away from the base, in a KND ship that'll be plenty of time." Nigel bit his lip in thought, then shrugged and said, "oh what the heck, I'm in, besides, this might be our first and only chance to get some true answers about all this."

She smiled again, she knew she could always count on him to help in these kinds of situation. Others though..., she pushed that thought to the back of her head and tried to focus on the mission as she and sector V entered Jack's office. It was pretty barren now that the fleet operatives had left, most of Jack's possessions were still here too, what little he kept here. All she could see in plain sight was a single bed with a built in heater (essential when living on the base), a small dresser, his soda cabinet, a desk and some boxes stacked in a corner.

Still, plenty of places to stash something, sector V immediately began opening the boxes and Nigel began searching the dresser, she on the other hand, moved to search the desk. She only felt slightly guilty at going through another person's things, especially seeing as how they were Jack's. The desk was pretty bare, a few old reports and some papers left by the radio officer were all that were left. She searched underneath the desk, nothing, the desk itself had only one small drawer and inside there was nothing but playing cards and hard candy.

"Find anything?", she called out, as she moved over to search the soda cabinet."I got nothing over here but comic books and old mystery novels", shouted out Numbah 4, as he pawed through one of the boxes, "I've got some chewing gum and half finished notebooks over here", called out Numbah 3, "and I've got kids clothing and some assorted uniforms", finished Numbah 1. "Great, is there anything else?", Rachel asked as she threw open the soda cabinet. It was a small cabinet, basically a box on top of a hollow wooden pillar, it had also been bolted into the wall. Inside all she found were drained or half empty soda cans and bottles, "nah theres nothing else here", replied Numbah 5, "there probably wasn't anything here to begin with."

"There has to be something here!", exclaimed Rachel, she was getting desperate. Nigel came up and put a hand on her shoulder, "face it Rachel, Schmitt's too good to just leave evidence lying out here, we better get going before we run out of time." Rachel couldn't believe it, she had been sure that there would be at least something, anything, here, there had to be. But once again, Schmitt had outsmarted them, that smug know it all jerk was really getting on her nerves now. In her frustration she lashed out and angrily punched the back of the soda cabinet.

She recoiled as pain shot through her fist, followed by a dull thump. _Thump, _she thought, _wood doesn't make thumping noises... _"Theres something behind the soda cabinet", she exclaimed; Nigel looked at her quizzically, "Rachel we all want to find out more about what's happening as badly as you do, but come on, stop making things up and lets go already." "No really, theres something back there, something hard", she said and began feeling around the edges of the back of the cabinet. Nigel still looked quizzical, "ice?", he suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

Rachel favored him with a sour look before going to back to her search. Finally she found what she was looking for, a small groove cut into the cabinet's back. She dug her nails into it and wrenched it forwards, it resisted for a moment, before the secret door swung open to reveal a metal box buried in the wall behind the cabinet. "I knew it!", she exclaimed, Nigel perked up, "what, what is it, let me see." She stepped down to allow him and the rest of sector V a view of the box, it was made of solid steel and was sealed with a very complicated looking electronic lock. Turning to Numbah 2 she asked, "how long would it take you to get this open?", Hoagie moved forward to examine the box, "the locks reinforced and knowing Jack, its probably encrypted with some high of tech Federation security system." "Okay", replied Rachel, "but can you get it open?"

Numbah 2 shrugged, "sure, if I had my tools and a few days maybe, I could totally get with open." Rachel hefted her S.C.A.M.P.P., "we don't have a few days", realizing what she was going to do, Numbah 2 jumped aside as Rachel put half a dozen shots from her now supercharged S.C.A.M.P.P., into the lock. The lock was smashed into pieces by the shots and the door swung open to reveal a single small, leather bound notebook. Rachel reached inside and picked it up, on the cover it said, _Admiral's logbook- Jack Brimve Schmitt. _"Jackpot, literally", she exclaimed with a small giggle, pocketing the notebook. "Found what you were looking for", asked Nigel, a bit nervously, "yep", Nigel looked relieved, "good, now lets get out of here before it's too late."

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**C.W.S. Harbinger: Polar Orbit**

"Sir we're in position, bombardment cannons are loaded and ready to deploy." "Excellent", replied Arthurs, "now FIRE!"

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**KND SCAMPER C324: Above the Arctic Base**

Schmitt looked out over the remains of the arctic base as his S.C.A.M.P.E.R. hovered just above the south side. He saw the last of the rescue S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s taking off from the west, following the S.K.Y.C.L.A.W.s north as they headed for the ocean. One of the fleet operatives in the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. with him was busy talking on the radio and leaned over to say, "sir thats the last of them, the base is fully evacuated." "What Numbah 362 and her command squad?", asked Schmitt, the officer shook his head, "no sign of them, Sergeant Jonathan is reporting that they were supposed to evacuate with the rest of the western defense force, but they're not there, they may have made it out on another flight though." Jack narrowed his eyes, "how much time do we have before..."

The air around them shuddered, buffeting the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. with fierce winds, as the concussion from some distant blast slammed straight into them. Schmitt swore, "we're out of time, get this crate moving now!" "But sir!", cried out one of the KND regulars on board, "what if the Numbah 362 and the others didn't make it out in time?" Schmitt gritted his teeth, "we don't have time to go back, the bombardments on its way, we go now or we're all dead." Pulling himself into the cockpit he said, "pilot get this ship moving or so help me I'll do it myself!" The pilot opened up the throttle and the ship shot away from the arctic base. Jack looked back at the base one last time, _if you guys are still in there, your on your own now._

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**KND Arctic Base: Landing Bay 23**

When Rachel and sector V finally made it to the landing the bay, they found it deserted. "Oh crud, we're too late", exclaimed Numbah 4, "there's nobody left!" Rachel noticed a single C.O.O.L.B.U.S., parked on the other side of the landing bay, "not quite looks like theres one ship left." They rushed towards it and piled on into, Numbah 2 immediately took the pilots seat while the others strapped themselves in, "will it fly?" asked Nigel. Hoagie rand a quick diagnostic, "yeah, but just barely, this old hunk of junk is way over due for an overhaul." Numbah 2 started up the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. and took off, soaring out of the landing bay, as soon as they got into open air however, they were hit by tons of turbulence. "Whats wrong", yelled out Rachel, "I don't know", yelled back Numbah 2. "Oh double crud!, guys look!", Numbah 4 was pointing out the window, in the sky over the arctic base they could see a bright light, streaking down through the sky straight towards them. "The bombardment", breathed Nigel, Rachel didn't miss a beat, "punch it Numbah 2!", she screamed.

Hoagie opened the throttle all the way and the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. shot forwards, following the path taken by the other evacuating ships. Behind them, the kinetic barrage increased its speed as it raced down from the heavens to meet the earth, closer and closer. Too close, they weren't fare enough away from the base yet, "can't this bucket move any faster", yelled out Numbah 5, "this is as fast as it goes!", screamed Numbah 2. The projectiles slammed into the base, "brace your..." started Rachel, then the projectile exploded with the force of a nuclear blast. The base was shattered and crushed into the earth as a shock wave from the explosion ripped through the earth. The concussion from the blast sent huge waves of snow rippling outwards in all directions, followed by a blast of concentrated air and ice that surged through the air and slammed straight into the C.O.O.L.B.U.S.

For a split second, they rode the air current and were propelled forwards at even faster velocities, then they fell backwards into it. The waves of destructive force threw the ship around like a baby's play toy as they were tossed left and right at stomach churning speeds. Then a massive jolt surged through the ship as it crashed straight into the ground. For a split second, everything in the cabin was snow and bright lights and then there was nothing more.

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**Oh damn that took a long time to write, I just hope it was worth the effort though. As you can guess they are not actually dead, I mean, if they were then I would have lost pretty much all my stories main characters. But what did happen to them? Well you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out, until then this Jackrkazi saying please remember to comment, review and thank you for reading my story so far. Goodnight!**


	12. Chapter 12: Aftermath

**Well now that we're done with that whole debacle at the Arctic Base it's time to kick up the story. Before we start this chapter lets get the regular review responses out of the way:**

**Hypercamera3: **Thanks again for the support and the encouragement, I'm glad that you've taken interest in my story. You wanted a new chapter and here it is, and I can promise it's only gonna get better from here on out!

**AceShadow: **Yes, that part doesn't make a lot of sense does it, well that'll get cleared up here, thanks for pointing that out.

**Gamewizard2008: **It will be in the long run!

**After I released the last chapter I got a ton of new favorites and followers so thank you's go out to Jack Cross and ZeinDarkuzss for the favorite and the follow, Penbrook5200 and .10441 for the favorite and hypercamera3 and cyberpheniox for the follow. I'm glad so many people enjoy and support my first story, thank you everyone! **

**As a side note, this is the first chapter where I actually start using dates in the story. So for continuities sake, I am using the date January 25, 2008 (the date the TV show aired its last episode) as the starting point for all dates on Earth from the KND perspective in this story. Federation dates do not apply. **

**Ok time to get this started.**

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_"Don't judge a book by it's cover."_ -Old adult saying

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**Nigel's Mind**

The soot and smoke clouds were back and he was in the air again, g_reat. _Nigel turned over so he was floating on his back, _at least I know I'm not dead, I'm pretty sure this isn't what the afterlife looks like._ Out loud he said, "ok so whats next? Some burning flags? Oh I know, maybe another pep rally." No response came, the ash and soot continued to float through the air, Nigel shrugged and then preceded to pinch himself. "Ow!", he exclaimed, but despite the pain, the clouds of ash persisted.

Nigel huffed, _guess I'm stuck in here till this is over, or till someone outside wakes me up. _He noticed that he was descending again and turned over to see if he could spot anything. He froze as he finally saw where the smoke had been coming from, rather than a blank plain like last time, this time he was floating over a broken and ruined city. Smoke leaked from gaping holes in the sides of skyscrapers and ash and soot was blown up into the air from the charred remains of a dozen suburbs. Here and there fires still burned and the air hang heavy with silence.

Nigel's feet touched ground and the odd constraining sensation in his legs went away again. Nigel looked around as he tried to gauge his surroundings, he had landed in the middle of a plaza, the same plaza, he realized, from his last dream. He looked up and saw the tattered remains of what had once been a balcony, the same balcony where he and the other boy had stood last time.

Nigel walked towards the building and he was about to try and enter when he was spirited away once more. Now he was on a street in a different city, where a parade was going. He recognized the uniforms of the kid soldiers from his last dream as they marched proudly down the street, rank upon rank, rifles shouldered, in perfect unison. The sides of the road were crowded with other kids and some teens who were cheering and waving, smaller children threw candy at the soldiers, which they caught with much delight. In between the ranks of soldiers, groups of tanks thundered down the road.

The tanks each bore a flag and Nigel once again witnessed the gold banner with it's red and black eagle. The voice started up again, "_we had such __potential, such promise._" The view changed and Nigel was on another battlefield, here he saw clearly, adults and kids locked in brutal combat. The two sides clashed in the center of another city, this one less ruined, but still bearing scars of battle. The voice went on, "_but we squandered our gifts and our chance in the fires of war."_

Nigel watched as a division of adult tanks vanished under an artillery barrage, and then not two seconds later, the artillery battery that had launched the barrage, was consumed in the fiery explosion of an airstrike. "_Once again, blood and iron became the first and only response to human nature. Our hate blinded us from the truth, the truth that we could not win." _It was at this point Nigel noticed that this voice sounded far, far different from that of the one before, the last one had been alive with rage and passion. This one sounded more sad and regretful, like an old man recounting the past.

"_We could not win", _continued the voice, _"and we would not give up, and so began a vicious circle, one made in hell." _And with that final narration, Nigel woke up.

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**Unregistered**** KND C.O.O.L.B.U.S: 4 Miles Away From the Remains of KND Arctic Base**

Nigel awoke feeling cold, an odd feeling considering that the C.O.O.L.B.U.S., like all KND space faring craft, was insulated against the cold of space, a far worse cold than that of the Arctic. Still those final words from his dream haunted the depths of his mind, _we could not win... and we could not give up_, the comparison to their current situation was all to clear to him. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was lying under what appeared to be a small pile of blankets. Pulling them off, he found that he was still inside the C.O.O.L.B.U.S., which was a bit worse for wear.

Sometime in the crash, a good portion of the ships "legs" had been torn off, leaving some rather large holes in the floor. Besides that, a good portion of the roof was gone, ripped up and peeled away by the force of the crash, he also saw that the ship was upside down. _Well at least that explains the cold_, he thought. Looking around he saw that he was not alone, Rachel and Numbah 5 were sitting in the middle of the cabin around what looked to be the ship's heating unit. Across the ship's cabin he saw Numbahs 3 and 4 huddled together, sleeping under another small pile of blankets, Numbah 2 was nowhere to be seen.

Weakly, he mumbled, "whats up guys?" Hearing his voice Rachel and Abby turned around, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank zero your okay", said Rachel, walking over to help him stand. Abby cracked a smile, "I knew you were too thick headed to stay out for long, hows it going Numbah 1?" "Oh you know", he replied, in the same joking manner, "same old same old." He cringed a little as Rachel helped him up, apparently the crash hadn't done anything to help his head injury.

Gingerly, she got him to his feet and helped him over to the heater. "You gave me another scare there soldier, we don't have a medic to treat you this time." The affection in her tone was clear and he smiled at her as they sat down, "don't worry, it'll take more than a little crash to keep me down, we used to do this plenty of times back in the day, right Abby?" Abby couldn't resist laughing, "yeah, fly boy's piloting hasn't improved a one bit since you left."

"Hey its not my fault", replied Numbah 2 from somewhere outside the C.O.O.L.B.U.S., "I'd like to see you try flying this old crate through a nuclear sized blast wave." "Numbah 2, where are you?", called out Nigel, "where do you think, I'm outside fixing the ship since no else here seems to have the brains to do it." Abby rolled her eyes, "that crash didn't damage his ego, thats for sure", "I heard that!", yelled Numbah 2.

Nigel couldn't suppress another smile, it was good to know that even after a surviving a deadly crash in the middle of an Arctic wasteland, thousands of miles from civilization, his friends still kept bantering on like they were walking home from school. It reminded him of the good old days, before he'd left. Nigel gave a small sigh and sat back down, "so how long was I out for?" Abby's expression was thoughtful, "I'd say about an hour, hour an half tops", "you call that short!", exclaimed Nigel. Abby shrugged, "by our standards thats nothin, you've been through much worse, remember?"

"Yeah", replied Nigel, "I remember, alright then so whats our situation look like?" Rachel looked grim, "not good, from what Numbah 2 has been telling us, the ships pretty banged up, he'll be able to get it flying, but for how long and how far, he doesn't know." "Actually", said Numbah 2, poking his head through one of the holes in the roof, "I do, judging by the damage and loss of fuel, I'd say that we'll be lucky to get to North America from here."

Abby shrugged, "okay then why don't we just stop at one of the sectors in South America, get another ship and move on." Rachel shook her head, "no dice, before we left the command center, Schmitt deduced from the last satellite transmissions that the Confederates would have destroyed all treehouses in the Americas and in Europe, theres most likely nothing left." "So why go to North America then?", asked Abby, "because", cut in Numbah 2 from outside, "we have a much greater chance of salvaging something in North America than we do in South America, plus we actually know our way around the country."

"Great", remarked Nigel, "the one place on the Earth thats swarming with Confederates is the one place we have to go, just great." Turning to Abby, he asked, "do we know anything about the other transports? How many others made it out of the base and got to Moscow?" Abby shook her head, "we were the last ones out and the radio is totally busted, the war could be over for all we know." "What does it matter", said Rachel suddenly, "the war was lost the moment we lost the Arctic Base, now that the Moonbase is gone and zero knows whats happened to the deep sea science base, theres nowhere left to go."

"Schmitt will be heading to Moscow", said Abby, "with most of whats left of the KND, if anything we should try and get there as well, theres strength in numbers, right?" Rachel shook her head sadly, "that hasn't worked out for us so far." "Either way", put in Nigel, "if the last of the KND is going to make its stand at Moscow then thats where we need to be." Rachel frowned, "forget it, theres no way I'm walking into that trap again, if we go to Moscow then Schmitts just gonna take over and it'll be just like the Arctic Base all over again, and theres no way I'm gonna to let that lying traitor lead the KND to it's end."

Abby shook her head, "Rachel, we've all been thinking about this just as hard as you have, theres just no way out." "There has to be a way out", shot back Rachel, "come on! The Kids Next Door never quit, remember?" "Yeah!", said Nigel, "when Grandfather took over the world there was a way out, when Father turned everyone into animals there was a way out, there is always a way out!" Nigel turned to Abby, "check Schmitt's notebook, there has to be something in there." "I already skimmed through it", replied Abby, tossing him the small leather bound book, "nothing but some notes on weapons and equipment and a couple of vague journal entries about his plans to build the fleet." Nigel palmed through the book, she was right, there was nothing. Angrily, he threw the little book to the ground, yelling, "so we went to all that trouble for nothing!"

Still angry, he sat down roughly and kicked the notebook for good measure. It flew a few feet and smacked against the side of the cabin; a small object fell out of the back. Curious, Nigel went over to the book and picked it up, finding that the thing which had fallen out was a small chain locket that had been concealed inside a hidden pocket. Flipping the locket open, Nigel found that it contained a picture of a young teenage girl, no older than 14, with short brown hair, blue eyes and an innocently cute face. The locket was about the size of his thumb and was very flat, though, as he ran his fingers across the back, he detected a small bump towards the center. He pushed on it and a shaft of bright purple light flew out from the picture on the locket and onto the notebook that was still lying open on the floor.

Looking down, Nigel could now see lines of text, illuminated by the light shining from the locket, text that had been hidden from his eyes before. Experimentally, he clicked the light on and off, finding that the text disappeared whenever he turned it off. He grinned, "well what do you know, that sneak Schmitt wrote the real stuff in invisible ink." "The light coming from that locket must ultraviolet", remarked Rachel, grabbing the locket. She looked at the picture, "I wonder who this is?", "who cares, it may just be Schmitt's sister or something", replied Nigel, "here." He tossed her the book, "read what it says now."

Reading aloud, Rachel started with the first entry,

_Logbook Entry #1, August 15 2006 (By current Earth reckoning),_

_I have successfully gained access to the Kids Next Door, entry was not difficult, the entrance exams here are a cake walk and the PT is a joke, no wonder there are morons like Number 13 running around this organization, this thing practically lets anyone in. What sloppy security, but I digress, KND global command has set me up with a sector CA based in California, what a coincidence, this will make my early work much easier. I have not yet met my teammates but I soon will, I will have time to write much more once I arrive at my new home._

Nobody spoke for a few minutes, then Nigel said, "well he does have a point, I always thought basic training was far to easy." Abby smirked, "this coming from the guy who couldn't even pass the entrance exam..." Rachel looked up, "wait, you never passed your entrance exam?" Nigel threw Abby a fierce scowl, "I'll tell you about it later, keep reading." Rachel shrugged and moved on,

_Logbook Entry #2, August 16 2006,_

_I have finally met my fellow teammates and I'm not to disappointed by what I've seen. There is great potential in all of them, though the youngest could use a bit more work, they will suit my needs perfectly, granted I am able to become sector leader fast enough. It will take time before I am able to find a secure place to set up my communications gear, but I must be on time for my first report to Fleet HighCom, Alexi will get worried if am not. _

_Now on to the true matter at hand, KND technology, I've had more time to study what these kids pass off as "technology" and suffice to say, I am less than impressed. While they have made great strides beyond the ever lacking adults in the fields of transportation and space travel, most KND technology can be summed up in one word: Gadgets. Seriously, I almost feel like I'm in some spy movie, they have so much random crap that it's almost laughable. It seems they put more effort into these pointless gadgets than into actual weaponry, which will only make my job harder. The good news is that they're laser weapons are easy enough to tweak, a basic booster module will suffice to add some killing power to those weapons. Though if at all costs I hope to avoid any casualties on both sides, it is always best to plan for all possible situations._

_To this extent, I will begin tests to see how modified KND technology fares against what KMC tech we have on record. However, I will need a place to conduct my experiments, and I think I know just the place._

"Well that explains a little more", said Rachel, "but it still doesn't answer how we're going to beat the Confederates." "Well", said Abby, "he was saying that he'd need a promotion to do most of the stuff he wanted, he was only promoted a few months ago so read one of the later entries." "Alright", said Rachel, flipping towards the back of the book. "Hmmm, I wonder where he went to test the equipment", Nigel thought aloud, as Rachel started up again,

_Logbook Entry #265, January 16, 2009,_

_Its_ only_ be two weeks since the Beach War ended, not the worst conflict I've ever been a part of, but definitely a bad one for the KND. I may go as far as to say this was the KND's worst conflict in recent years, a depressing thought to say the least considering the things Arthurs will do to take this world. It just proves that the KND is still not ready to face the Federation in both war and peace. This organization is still too undeveloped, but I must interfere with their natural development if they are to survive. Too think though, this organization once ruled a global empire and had such steel to put the Directorate to shame, the years have not been kind to them. _

_But, I digress, the war proves that they can at least handle siege and trench warfare, a particularly bloody type of fighting but an effective one. I'm making a note to begin training the marines with defensive warfare in mind, it should prove handy during the invasion. Now that I finally have the rank I need, construction of the fleet can begin, though I am still meeting with some resistance from those traditionalists. Seriously though, what would you want more, a steel plated, flying battleship or a rusted, tin can covered flying wood log. Ugghh, I think I'll stop until I can write without __criticism. As a side note, its hard to believe I've been here for more than I year and I barely miss the Federation. Homesickness, I suppose._

"Well, that was a bit more interesting", said Rachel. "Yeah, but it makes no sense", said Nigel, scratching his head, "the KND has never had a global empire." "Not one that we remember anyway", put in Rachel, "remember, they're still digging up a lot of stuff from the earlier ages, we don't even know everything about the 6th and 5th ages, let alone the 1st and 2nd." "But what was he talking about when he said Directorate?", put in Numbah 1, "thats a new one, we know about the Confederacy and the Federation, but Schmitt has never mentioned anything about a Directorate, so what could that be?"

Rachel shrugged, "you got me, maybe it has something to do with the KND's history, or maybe its another kid faction out in space, I've got no idea." "But, if what he's saying is true", said Abby, "then the Federation obviously knows more about the KND then we do, and you can bet the Confederates know too, so how are we supposed to beat an enemy that outnumbers us, outguns us and out knows us?"

"Well he said we were good enough at defensive combat", said Nigel. "That didn't really help us back at the Arctic Base", shot back Abby, "Rachel how many more entries are there?" "Only four, here this is his last entry." She read aloud the last page:

_Logbook Entry #269, July 19, 2009,_

_I've been getting strange reports from HighCom as of late. Confederate forces have increased their activity beyond the border and have stepped up their recruiting efforts in the outer colonies. I can only assume that they are gearing up for a large offensive, of what kind though I cannot say. The invasion is due to launch in little over a month now, though Alexi has confirmed that Arthurs force will be limited to ACD system runner craft at best, which is good for the KND. Fleet construction has reached medium phases of success, the first fleet has already been __formed, though weapon research and development continues. _

_I must write that it is ironic how much tech I have simply re-introduced to the KND, if they spent as much time studying their history as they did goofing off then they would have won this little squabble with the adults years ago. Though we have a greater chance of winning than before, I cannot let unforeseen variables comprise all I have worked to achieve, therefore I have instituted a series of Omega class contingency plans into fleet protocol to be used in the event that some of those unforeseen problems materialize. I have stashed a complete copy of the list in this notebook for future readers to inspect._

_Though it goes against my conscience and my gut, I have included the steps necessary to find the Last Legion in the protocols. Though I swore that they would never again see the light of day on this world, fate may conspire against my wishes. They were a powerful force to be reckoned with in the old days and they would no doubt prove a strong deterrent to force attacking this world today. I pray though, that it will not come to that._

_As a side note, reports on the whereabouts of one Nigel Uno have run dry. Considering the last reports I received about his activities with the Confederates, this is most troubling news. I will have to keep an eye out for any more signs of him, he could cause the Federation many problems in the future._

"okay, whats a Last Legion?", asked Nigel, "well a legion is sort of like an army", said Abby, "so I guess it's some sort of military force." "I think we have more important questions to ask besides that", said Rachel, "from the way he worded this, I'd guess he was actually there when this Last Legion was put to rest." "But thats impossible", said Nigel, "if the Legion is so old that it doesn't appear in out history, then Schmitt would have to be over a hundred years old! He might not be as old as us, be he certainly isn't some decaying old man." "I'm not so sure anymore", said Rachel, "from what we've seen so far, I'm starting to question if anything isn't possible."

"Well no matter how old he is is beside the point", said Abby, "according to this, most of the tech he gave us wasn't from the Federation but from past KNDs, even though we've never found any tech like that, so how is that possible?" "It shouldn't be possible", put in Numbah 2, dropping down from the ceiling. He was dirty, his clothes caked with snow and his hands reeked of oil and grease, "finished fixing the engines by the way", he said with a grin.

Sitting down by the fire he went on, "whenever the archeologists dug up any old KND tech, it was much less advanced than what we have now, so it's impossible for older KND to be more advanced than what we have now." "He does have a point", said Abby, "according to our history, the 7th age is the first age to master space travel and aircraft, so how could older KND's possess tech that could benefit the fleet?" "Well, like Rachel said, we don't know everything about our history", said Nigel, "but I do know someone who might have an idea..." "Oh no", cut in Numbah 2, "you don't mean Numbah 101 do you?!" Numbah grimaced, "unfortunately yes, he is the foremost expert on KND history, so it stands to reason he might know something."

"Well then we'll have to find him and ask him", said Rachel, "but first, lets take a look at those contingency plans." Next the last page in the notebook was a red folder stamped with the words: CONFIDENTIAL- EYES ONLY: FLEET HIGH COMMAND PERSONNEL. She opened the folder and read the contents of the single slip of paper inside:

**Contingency Plan Delta Omega #1:** _In the event that orbital positions are lost, all KND forces are to abandon moonbase and retreat to secondary standby positions on Earth, all KND command personnel are to relocate to Arctic Base HQ to regroup and and reorganize for prolonged planetary siege warfare. All KND ground based anti-orbital defense batteries are to cover the retreat of remaining KND fleet vessels as they retreat to secondary defense __positions._

**Contingency Plan Delta Omega #2: **_In the event that Arctic Defense positions and other global defense positions are lost, all remaining KND forces are to retreat to Asia and fortify their positions in and around Moscow. All KND forces are then to prepare for immediate counter attack against hostile forces to secure a effective first line of defense. In the event that surviving numbers make such an offensive untenable, all remaining forces are to dig in and fortify their remaining positions for a prolonged last stand.  
_

**Contingency Plan Delta Omega #3:** _In the event that all remaining defensive measures are untenable, all remaining KND forces are to scatter-retreat from Moscow and regroup at the resting place of the Last Legion. Coordinates are contained within secure file Delta-O195, steps are to be taken to reawaken the legion to supplement remaining KND forces. All forces are to hold out until Project: IronWing is completed and ready to activate._

"Whats Project: IronWing", asked Rachel, "and how is that supposed to help us win the war?" "Well if it's in the contingency plan, it must be able to help us somehow", said Nigel, "either way, this seems to be a much better plan than what we're doing right now." "According to the file", said Numbah 2, "contingency plans 1 and 2 have already been carried out, so 3 is the last one anyway." "Okay, but if this Last Legion is so powerful then why didn't Schmitt just have us go there in the first place?" "It sounds like he's afraid of something", said Abby, "he really made it sound like awakening this legion was a last ditch option."

"Well, if it can save the KND, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't try it", said Nigel, "what are the coordinates of the resting place?" "Uhhh, we might have a problem there", said Rachel, anxiously, "it doesn't look like he remembered to put the coordinates in the file!" "Oh you've got to be kidding me!", exclaimed Nigel, throwing his hands up in the air, "so how are we supposed to find it then!"

"There might not be any coordinates", said Rachel, "but there is this, check it out, this was written on the back of the paper." She turned it over to reveal another contingency plan: **Contingency Plan Delta Omega #4**, it read. "Whats it say?", asked Nigel. "Thats the thing", said Rachel, "I can't read it, it's written in some sort of code", "if it's in code, then it's probably some ultra, top secret plan", mused Nigel, "in any case, we don't need another plan right now, this Last Legion sounds like it should do the trick." "Ok", said Rachel, "but how are we supposed to find it?"

"We'll start at the first place we know of", said Nigel, "and thats Numbah 101, if it has to do with KND history, he'll know about it and besides, we might run into Schmitt and one of his cronies along the way who can translate that code." "Alright then, so it's off to America", said Rachel, "Numbah 2 get those engines started, we're leaving and Abby, go wake up Numbah 3 and Numbah 4, they need to know what we've found." The operatives saluted and went to carry out their jobs. As the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. climbed back into the sky once again, Nigel looked back at the smoldering crater of what was once the Arctic Base and unconsciously recalled the last words from his dream: _We could not win, and we would not give up._

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**South Pacific Ocean: Several Miles North of the Remains of KND Arctic Base**

The pilot of Schmitt's S.C.A.M.P.E.R. grappled with his controls, as he threw his ships through a complicated series of loops and corkscrews to evade the missiles on his tail. Around the sky was filled with KND and Confederate ships locked in a massive dogfight. While flying out of Antarctica, over the South Pacific, the remains of the KND Arctic garrison had encountered a scout squadron of Confederate fighters, who had immediately called for reinforcements upon sighting the escaping operatives. The sky was alight with missile trails, the flashing bursts of rapid fire lasers and the whooshing sound of flares being ejected.

In the command seat of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., Schmitt gritted his teeth and held on tight to his chair as the ship spun into another vertical corkscrew. "Sir, I can't evade them for much longer!", cried out the pilot, as he wrestled the ship out of its decent. "Sir, we're taking losses, the other captains want to know what the plan is?", called out the coms officer. Schmitt grimaced and said, "order all ships to break formation and scatter, at least some of them should make it through." "Yes sir!", replied the officer, as he too clung to his seat for dear life.

"Admiral, the enemy is blocking our path to Asia, I can't get past them", called out the copilot. "Dammit", swore Schmitt, "break off from the fight and make for North America", "but sir", protested the pilot, "we can't just leave the others!" "Thats an order!", yelled Schmitt, "we can't do anything to help them anyway, its every kid for himself, no go!" The pilot wanted to resist, but he groaned and pulled away from the battle. "Sir", yelled the com officer, "if I may ask, where are we going?" "Someplace I'd hoped never to see again", replied Schmitt, apprehensively.

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**Well that was Chapter 12, it took forever for me to make, but I finally got it out. Chapter 13 will hopefully be much shorter, but I can never tell with this story. As always, please take the time to review, comment and favorite. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.**


	13. Chapter 13: The Rising Storm

**Hello everyone and welcome back. Now that its summer, I'll probably have more time to devote to this story, but I say probably cause this story isn't really my first priority. Still with all the free time I have, I'm hoping to get more chapters out before Senior year hits.**

**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, its about a week later than I thought it would be, but thats because (_drumroll please_)** **I actually managed to get a job this summer. For about two to two and a half weeks I'll be working at the local county fair. So yeah, reason I couldn't get this out sooner was cause my first week was this week, still this is a pretty short job so I'll go back to having nothin to do pretty quickly.**

**Now as always, lets get the review responses out of the way, I got a bunch of reviews for the last chapter so here we go:**

**AceShadow: **You'll get more about the Legion later, right now I'm gonna focus more on the development of the characters and the war itself. Yeah the KND is kind of like the Soviet Union, except without all the propaganda and the purges.

**The Strangr: **I'm glad you like my story so much, yeah school work does tend to get in the way, but now that its over things should get better. Sorry bought the bad cliffhanger btw.

**hypercamera3: **Glad you weren't disappointed, now that all that early exposition stuff is out of the way, the story will hopefully progress at a faster pace.

**Jack Cross: **Great to see that your still liking the backgrounds bits, like I said though, I am gonna be taking a break from a lot of that exposition stuff for a bit and start focusing more on the action, after all, we have a legion to find!

**Gamewizard2008: **I don't want to give any spoilers but I can say it will be good and bad for both sides.

**Got more favorites and follows after that last one so heres thanks to BlackTemplarKnight295 and The Strangr for the follow and the favorite, cosmicfourze, Warmach1ne32 and Eckskalibur for the favorite and finally, thank you idkyilol and nsheldonb for the follow.**

**Ok, I thought I'd focus on the villains for a change in this chapter. So yeah, lets get this started.**

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"A selfish commander who only fights for himself, does not deserve victory." -Colonel Cameron S. Kreller, Directorate 3rd Army

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**Washington D.C, Virginia: X-Day**

In the presidential bunker underneath the White House, all was chaos. The President's staff were in a flurry of activity as they frantically carried out their assigned tasks. Officials from the CIA and FBI were busy trying to connect with their agents outside Washington, what few generals in the room were arguing strategy over a map of the U.S while various security officers and members of the secret service worked on ways to evacuate the lot of them. Various TV screens and computer monitors scattered around the room were flipping through footage from topside security cameras.

The images on the screens showed the battered ruins of a decimated city, over which floated various boxy looking ships which rained fire down upon the ruins. Here and there, glimpses of battle could be seen, as the remains of the U.S. army fought desperately to repel the unknown invaders. It was evening and the light from a thousand muzzle flashes lit the gloomy dark surrounding the ruins with sporadic bursts of light. Ruins from the fight were scattered across the greens in front of the Washington Monument, which was now nothing more than a jagged splinter of marble.

The sounds of automatic weapons fire mixed with the heavy retort of Confederate rail rifles echoed from the loudspeaker. In the middle of all of this, the President sat at his desk and brooded over the fate of his nation. Everything had happened so fast, there had been almost no time to respond. One minute everything was peaceful, the next, every city in the world was being invaded. They had already lost contact with the European Union and most of the Asian and South American countries. The only major city left in the Russian Federation that was still transmitting was Moscow, but no government officials or generals had attempted to contact him or moved their forces to assist his nation. _As it stands_, he thought, _I may well be the last president of the United States._

"Sir", one his aides said with an urgent tone, "I just got word from one of our agents in Langley, he reports that the enemy has taken CIA headquarters and is setting up what looks to be artillery positions." "Sir", another aide spoke up, "scouts report that the enemy has captured all bridges leading from the capital across the Potomac, we have no way of evacuating you to the National Airport." The President thought to himself, "we could use boats to evacuate to Bolling Field Airport if we can get to the edge of the city, have the National Guard form a defensive cordon around our route and order Air Force One to land there."

The aides looked nervous, "sir, I'm sorry but, thats impossible." "What do you mean its impossible!", stormed the President, "Bolling is right there at the edge of the city, if the guard cover us we can..." "Sir!", the aide interjected, "its impossible because we lost the last National Guard regiment an hour ago, all thats left is the city defense force!" "Well call in reinforcements then!", ordered the President, "the American government cannot be allowed to die here, we must escape if the U.S is to continue!"

One the generals walked up to the desk and laid his hands flat upon its surface, "sir", he said, "the enemy is jamming all our communications in ways we do not understand and their forces have encircled the city, we can't even get a telegram out of here." "Uhhh, sir!", one of the security officers interrupted, "one our last AA positions reports that Air Force One was just shot down after attempting to take off from the National Airport, they also report numerous squadrons of enemy armored vehicles advancing on the White House."

"Get me a direct feed from the topside cameras", ordered the President, one of the officers transferred the feed from an outside camera to the TV screen behind the President, it showed footage of everything directly in front of the White House. In the gloom of dusk, the President and his staff could see numerous hulking vehicles emerging from the gloomy wreckage of the city. Some of them looked vaguely like tanks the U.S. used, only bigger and more advanced looking. Others were completely different from anything they had seen before, a massive tank the width of two houses long and 3 stories tall, festooned with turrets and sporting a main gun as big as the base of the Washington Monument, a platform supported by four mechanical legs and bristling with AA guns and artillery pieces. The most numerous of all where the walkers and mechs, who marched alongside these metal giants like oversized infantry. At the foot of all these great and fearsome weapons, marched enemy soldiers, running through the wreckage of the city or riding in small troop carriers. In comparison to the giant weapons towering above their heads, the soldiers and their carriers looked like toys.

The sight was intimidating to say the least, on screen the few visible soldiers still defending the White House turned and ran, or broke down in fear and huddled amongst the wreckage as these nightmare engines of destruction towered overhead. The large tank suddenly ground to a stop as its gun began to charge. Particles of energy formed around the barrel of the weapon and numerous lights and power lines could be seen lighting up the weapons surface. The gun fired with a sound like a sonic boom, the recoil was so great it threw the front of the tank several feet back and lifted the front into the air a few feet before crashing down back to the surface. The projectile moved faster than the eye could see and slammed into the front of the White House. The camera feed immediately went dead and the White House rocked with such force that it seemed like the earth itself would shatter and swallow them whole.

The ceiling of the bunker shook and several computers and TVs blew a fuse and burst into sparks, lightbulbs cracked and shattered and the room temporarily went black before the auxiliary lights kicked in. "Shit!", swore one of the generals, who immediately began yelling into a shortwave radio, "is anyone left up there? Report, whats the situation?!" The radio remained silent. The President was furious, "general you better get me someone who can explain what the hell is going on or..." The general whirled on him, "or what sir? You'll fire me, cut my pay? I think its a bit late for that!" The President snarled and turned to one of his aides, "get me those adult industries representatives, they were supposed to be having a meeting at a convention center near here!"

"Sir", the aide said somberly, "one of the last reports we got from that area confirmed that all the representatives had been killed in the early minutes of the battle." "This is not happening", said the President, "those representatives promised me weapons that could defend this country from attacks like this, why didn't I listen to them!" "Sir", said another of the generals, seriously, "I believe it is time to consider using the nukes." The President was about to argue, but them he remembered what he had seen on the screen and he reconsidered, "fine, send the order", he said reluctantly. The general nodded and spoke to the other general who said something into the radio. The President steepled his fingers in front of him and continued thinking.

Several minutes passed without event, the residents of the bunker couldn't see the missiles launch because the cameras were down, but they could still receive updates from shortwave radio and the underground hard connection communication systems that ran between the bunker and other important command facilities throughout D.C. Ten minute later, the general got off the radio and said, "I just got word, the missiles are launching now." The President nodded and waited patiently as the general continued communicating with the launch control center. Something must have happened because the general suddenly became very pale as he turned back to the President, "sir, I don't know how, but the launch control center reports that the enemy just shout our nukes out of the sky with some kind of laser."

The President could not believe what he was hearing, "BUT THATS IMPOS...", he was cut off as the security door to the bunker exploded.

* * *

**Confederate Forward Command Post (FCP): Langely, Virginia**

Arthurs felt vaguely exposed sitting in the relatively fortified remains of CIA headquarters, which was serving as the Confederates FCP for the Washington ground assault. While he had commanded Federation military forces from the ground during the Great Galactic War, even then it had only been occasionally and anyway the war had ended over nine years ago, so he was rusty to say the least. Leave that charge the breach, tip of the spear dramaticism stuff to the hot heads and glory hounds, Arthurs was more practical when it came to his own survival. In his mind, his life was the most important aspect of this army.

Arthurs shook his head to clear his thoughts, now was not the time to get caught up in a sense of vanity, there was work to be done. After his orbital forces had finished screening the adult armies here on the ground, he had ordered priority assaults on the capital cities of each nation, intent on crippling the adult's command structure before they could organize any resistance. Arthurs was very fond of shock and awe tactics and it had brought him great joy to see his armies with their massive assault walkers and line breaking tanks, steamroll over the pathetic adult forces._  
_

As predicted, the adults had been caught completely by surprise and his troops had encountered little resistance. Even now, his forces were securing control of over two thirds of the world's capital cities. Thanks to that little sneak attack his forces had carried out against the so called adult "villains", the adults had been completely cut off from their "advanced" technology and so had posed an even smaller threat than they would have and were now falling in droves.

But that still left some of the more camera shy kid villains to attend to, but Arthurs felt confident that his hunter-kill teams would be able to ferret them out one way or another. Arthurs stared up at one of the monitors thats was replaying scenes from the earlier battle at Arctic Base and quietly pondered his position. He didn't really enjoy killing other kids, even if they were enemies, but if it brought him closer to achieving his goals or if they supported and sheltered adults, then all bets were off.

However, adults were not kids and were totally free game. He had considered leading the final charge on the White House himself, but he had decided he had more important matters to attend to and had assigned one of his lower sub commanders to carry out the attack. _Speak of the devil, _thought Arthurs, as he watched said officer's command carrier roll up to the FCP.

The officer and a small squad exited the carrier through a hatch at the rear, two of the squad were dragging a handcuffed prisoner between them, with a bag over his head. Arthurs walked out of his temporary office to meet the commander and his men at the vehicle pool. The sub commander saluted in typical Confederate fashion, clenching his fingers into a fist and bringing his right arm across his chest in a quick motion so it rapped against his breast at a right angle. If this was the old Directorate, the salute would have continued with said arm and fist being thrust forward Nazi style, but that part of the tradition had been dropped after the Civil War as had many of the other old quirks and rituals.

Arthurs didn't mind the change in tradition that much, though he always wished to have had the chance to see the Directorate in all its old glory. _But then again, I wouldn't be here right now if that had happened, _he thought to himself as he shook the officer's hand. "I presume Washington is now ours Commander Roger?" "You presume correct sir", replied the commander, "and I have the guest of honor, alive but a bit worse for wear, as instructed." Arthurs smiled, "good work as always commander, keep this up and there'll be a promotion in your future soon." The officer grinned and saluted again, "I do hope so sir, permission to relieve myself of duty?" "Granted", replied Arthurs, "make sure you and your men get some rest, but make sure to deliver the prisoner to the command center for questioning before you go searching for a bunk." "Yes Sir", shouted the commander before turning on his heels and walking back towards his squad.

The commander snapped his fingers and gestured towards Arthurs, the two soldiers carrying the prisoner saluted with their free hands and began dragging him towards the FCP. Arthurs followed close behind. The prisoner's hands were un-cuffed and he was thrusted rather roughly into an open chair inside one of the abandoned interrogation rooms. The sack was pulled off his head, allowing him full view of his surroundings. The President shook his head as his eyes adjusted to the lighting inside the room. Arthurs pulled up a chair and sat opposite the President while the two soldiers stood guard behind the President's chair.

The President's eyes finally focused and his gazed at Arthurs with utter confusion. "You... your just a kid!", exclaimed the President. He tried to stand up but the guards grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him back into his chair. The President glared at Arthurs, who favored him with a smug expression, "enough of this charade, I demand to speak to whoever is in charge here!", yelled the President. "Your looking at him", said Arthurs, still maintaining his smug grin. The President turned his head to look at the two serious looking guard before turning his head back to Arthurs, "you can't expect me to believe this, this is a joke right?" He raised his hands up in a gesture of confusion, "if your going to make demands could we please stop this nonsense and get on with it?"

Arthurs was not amused, he gestured to one of the guards who promptly bashed the President in the head with the butt of his gun. The President yelped with pain and fell out of his chair, he began to writhe on the floor, his old body was not used to enduring such punishment. Arthurs' guards grabbed the President and once again forced him back into his chair. Arthurs scowled at the President, he was done playing around, "Mr. President, all I want from you is two things, two things and if you comply, then we let you live, if you don't we will summarily execute you, understand?" The President groaned and cradled his head in his hands. Arthurs motioned for the guards to hit him again, but the President held up a hand and said through gritted teeth, "yes, I understand."

Arthurs smirked, "alright, first I want you to give me the codes to the remainder of your country's nuclear arsenal." The President groaned, "there's nothing left, we launched all our missiles and you shot them down." "Yes", said Arthurs matter-of-factly, "wonderful thing EMP point defense lasers, too bad they're obsolete by todays standards, its a good thing your not very up to date when it comes to tech." Arthurs leaned forward menacingly, "come now, you can't expect me to believe you launched all your missiles can you?" He gestured towards the guards again but the President yelled, "I swear we did and even if we didn't I wouldn't know, you cut all communications out of Washington, we didn't even know of the other silos even launched."

Arthurs put his hand down, "well I believe you on that account", he replied, "but there is one last thing." "What", asked the President with trepidation. Arthurs crossed his arms and said, "I want you to make a public broadcast to whats left of this nation and the world saying that you have officially surrendered this nation and have handed over control to the armed forces of the Kids Militiant Confederacy." The President raised an eyebrow, "and what happens to me if I comply?" Arthurs smirked again, "what do you think, we send you to one of the POW camps and you get above average treatment, nothing more nothing less." "And if I refuse?", another smirk, "we kill and use what you've said so far to create a holographic impersonation of you to give the same message, I'd wager we have more than enough of your words on tape now to say whats needed."

The President stared in disbelief, "you can't do that, the technology required for that is far too..." Arthurs dismissed the President's objections with a wave of his hand, "Mr. President, based upon what you've seen of us so far, I expected you to have a broader idea of our capabilities." Arthurs relaxed in his chair, folded his hands behind his head and said, "now Mr. President, and I use that term lightly, what shall it be?" The President mulled it over for a minute, his mind jumping from option to option, till finally he seemed to find some hidden steel buried deep within. He stood up, faster than the guards could react, and said with a defiant voice, "the United States of America will never surrender to invaders like you. We will always stand for freedom, liberty and..."

"Ugggh, spare me the theatrics", replied Arthurs in disgust as he produced a pistol from his belt and promptly shot the President in the head. The recoil from the blow blew the President back into his chair, where he lay limply, his head lolling onto his chest as blood spilled out of the wound and onto his clothes. Arthurs shook his head annoyance, he stood up and gestured to the guards, "you two, clean up this mess." Leaving the two troopers to clean up the dead President, Arthurs casually strode out of the interrogation room and walked over to the radio officer who had been monitoring the conversation, "please tell me you got what you needed out of that moron", he said. The officer did a quick playback of the conversation before looking up and responding, "yes sir, theres more than enough here to synthesize a copy of the President's voice, I'll start working on that holographic replica."

"Good", replied Arthurs, "the faster we get that message out, the faster we can get this idiot adults to submit to us, carry on." The officer saluted and went back to work as Arthurs strode down the hallway towards the bases makeshift commissary, _I could use a good drink, _he thought to himself, _the adults don't exactly brew good soda, but its better than that stir powder army crap we used to drink in the war. _He was nearing the commissary when his personal com unit began beeping. The unit was mounted on his wrist as part of the standard command gauntlet issued to all Federation military commanders, it had been one of the few things he had insisted on holding on to when he switched sides.

The gauntlet was flat and molded to the shape of Arthurs fore-arm, it held multiple devices, but its compact design allowed easy access to all without making it a burden to carry. Arthurs held up his arm so the device was level with his chest and pushed the _take call_ button on the gauntlet's micro console. A 3D hologram of the _Harbinger_'s head communications officer popped up on the devices surface, projected by a mini holo emitter built into it's surface. The officer looked concerned, but his tone was professional, "excuse the interruption sir, but we have a problem", "go ahead", replied Arthurs, curious. The officer continued, "our scanners have just picked up an unidentified ship exiting FTL out of the hidden jump point on the far side of the system, long range scanners indicate that the ship is a warship but it is not answering our hails."

"Is it Federation?", he asked apprehensively, "no sir, its markings are Confederate and cross referencing scans with the ships database show that the ship is a modified Confederate heavy cruiser, but all Confederate ships were ordered to follow us through the main jump point upon the start of the invasion, it has however, relayed a single message to us, asking to speak directly to you sir." "Hmmm, okay keep monitoring that vessel and order picket patrols into position in case it tries anything funny and send down a lander for me" "Aye sir", replied the officer, who then cut the feed. Arthurs whirled around on his heels and headed back towards the command center, his mind racing.

_It could be a pirate ship, but what pirate would know the coordinates of that jump point, it took our agents years of undercover work to figure out it existed, if it really is a Confederate ship it can't be good news, High Command never did really trust me with this operation, not that I'd blame them, _he continued thinking to himself as he passed through the command room. Passing through the room, Arthurs pointed to the sub-commander who had come in earlier, "you Roger, your in charge until I get back from the _Harbinger_" Roger saluted, "yes sir."

Arthurs passed out of the building and went out to vehicle lot to wait for the lander. As he waited an amusing thought crossed his mind, _at least when I get up there I'll be able to get a decent cup of soda, I guess thats one of the perks of being in the Navy, you always have good food on hand._

* * *

**Confederate Flagship C.W.S. Harbinger: Bridge**

20 minutes and one short flight later, Arthurs was back on the bridge of his flagship. As soon as he strode onto the bridge the officers on duty snapped to attention, "Commander on deck!", one of them shouted, "at ease", Arthurs replied nonchalantly. He took a swig from the bottle of ginger ale he had picked up from the galley on the way and sat down comfortably in his command chair, it felt good to back in space. "Has the ship replied to any of our hails yet?", "no sir", the coms officer replied, "they just keep looping the same message that they'll speak only with you."

"Alright then open a direct channel to them", Arthurs said with a hint of annoyance, he tapped a few buttons on the console mounted in the arm of his chair and a holographic window opened up in front of his command chair. "This is gen... this is _Field__ Commander _Arthurs of the KMC Expeditionary fleet, you are trespassing upon secure space during a Confederate military operation, identify yourself and transmit your ID codes now or we will open fire." The communications window remained silent and only displayed blackness, Arthurs tried again, "you have exactly two minutes to transmit ID codes or else we _will_ open fire!"**  
**

**"**Sir", the coms officer spoke up, "we are now receiving ID codes from the ship." The officer tapped a few buttons on his console and then looked up nervously, "uh, sir, codes identify the ship as a command ship carrying a special envoy from Confederate High Command." "WHAT!", shouted Arthurs, "then why won't they speak with us, I'm the ranking officer here!" "Um, I'm sorry sir", continued the officer, "but the ship's command codes confirm that your authority over this fleet has been superseded by whoever is in charge of that cruiser." Arthurs grumbled to himself, "what else do they say", he asked angrily.

"The cruiser has sent a message that said envoy is en route to this ship to debrief on the current situation, they send orders instructing you to meet them in the main hanger bay, the cruiser is now moving to take up position in the main body of the fleet", finished officer. "Great, alright then helmsman, you have the bridge till I get back", ordered Arthurs as he stormed off out the door. Arthurs took one of the ship's internal hover transports through the spacious if utilitarian hallways of the _Harbinger _till he found himself outside the blast door leading to the ship's main hanger bay. Arthurs walked in and waited for the cruiser's envoy to arrive.

He didn't have to wait long, within five minutes a bulky shuttle was nosing its way through the bay's environment shields. It was one of those blocky lander class vessels, like the one he had ridden up to the _Harbinger,_ with a forward mounted cockpit, two maneuvering thrusters on either side and two large engines the back, bellow which was mounted the blast door to the ship's passenger compartment. Arthurs impatiently tapped his foot as the ship made a slow landing onto one of the spaces etched out in red paint on the deck.

Finally the ship completed its landing and powered down, a ramp extended the deck from the back of the ship and passenger bay doors slide open. Arthurs was surprised and not too happy by who he saw at the top. Down the ramp stepped another Confederate officer, this one wearing the gold and black of the Confederate navy. His uniform was quite different from that of Schmitt's, if the grand admiral's uniform could be called modern, than this newcomers was classical. He had the golden buttons down the front and all the ornamentation 17th century style, but his black uniform had a modern hint to it as well as a pair of flat red epaulets. He had on a long dark grey overcoat, festooned with honors and medals as well as a peaked officers cap also in black and gold, his boots were black with red tinge and he had dark black gloves.

Arthurs snarled, "High Commodore Aleksander Imnis, to what do I owe the pleasure?" High Commodore Imnis was one of the highest ranking Confederate officers in Federation space and was directly responsible for the operation of many of the Confederates secret military operations within Federation territory. As a high commander, Imnis was one of the few officers alive who was allowed direct contact with Confederate High Command outside of the Confederacy's territory, though he himself was never allowed to go there personally. No one was, as a precaution against the Federation's considerably advanced interrogation technology, no Confederate officer or soldier in the part of the galaxy was allowed to visit Confederate High Command for fear that its location would be discovered by the USF.

No one even knew where High Command was, only that is wasn't in the Federation's corner of the galaxy. The only way anyone got to see High Command was if they were transferred there and even then, they could never come back. Still, only the highest of military commanders or the most decorated of soldiers were ever transferred to serve at High Command, but Arthurs had never had any ambitions of being any of those elite brass. All he'd ever wanted was a chance to change history, back to the way it should have been. Though the chances of that happening now were extremely diminished now that this piece of brass was here.

The high commodore eyed Arthurs with distaste, "it seems you haven't lost a bit of your temper since we last met", he said with a rich and flowing voice, "I've come under orders from Confederate High Command to oversee the rest of the invasion." "Oversee the rest... WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED!", raged Arthurs, "High Command put me in charge of this operation, an operation that would have failed from the get go without my cooperation mind you, and now they want to replace me!" The commodore's eyes narrowed, "control your temper Arthurs, I'm not here to usurp your command, I'm only here to watch and relay information back to High Command."

"Hmph, I always assumed HighCom just decided to fold their snitch into the ranks", said Arthurs with distaste, "I never expected they'd send someone like you out here to do their dirty work." The commodore's eyes remained narrow, though his voice maintained it cordial tone, "it was necessary, though I am not here to lead, if High Command does decide that you are not upholding the best interests of the Confederacy in your campaign, I am authorized to take command from and finish this operation personally." "Well then", replied Arthurs, in a less than cordial tone, "lets hope it doesn't come to that."

The commodore nodded and walked up to Arthurs, "good, until then I will primarily remain aboard my cruiser the _Herakles, _however there is one other small matter that I was called here to attend to." "And what might that be?", asked Arthurs, his tone still angry, but carrying a hint of curiousity. The high commodore smiled, "I know your already acquainted with our wayward agent Nigel Uno, correct?" "Well of course," replied Arthurs, in a rather boastful tone, "while now he has been causing us a bit of trouble for, back before this invasion he was the top infiltration expert of my division's special forces unit."

"Well then you should know that as a former top agent for the esteemed Confederacy, he was privy to many valuable secrets that we would prefer to not be revealed", said the commodore, "as such I have been ordered to dispatch a team of specialists to recapture him before he can divulge said secrets." Arthurs scoffed at the commodore, "theres no need, he hardly remembers anything now, I was in the process of having part of his memory wiped as per protocol before he escaped out custody, he doesn't know anything about the Confederacy." "Be that as it may", replied the commodore, "High Command is adamant when it comes to valuable information, he will be recaptured and his memory wipe will be officially completed to insure our security."

Arthurs was not amused, but decided he had better things to worry about than one wayward agent so he relented, "he was last sighted at the KND's Arctic command facility, which was recently flattened under orbital bombardment, yet our scanners showed multiple KND craft escaping from the facility before the bombardment hit as well as one ship that barely managed to get away following the barrage. Nigel was always one for close getaways, so I'd bet he was on that last ship which unfortunately took so long to escape, it evaded the ambush we placed outside the arctic continent which scattered most of the escaping craft."

"Hmm", said the commodore, thoughtfully, "I guess its safe to assume then that Admiral Schmitt was in that base and made it out as well, correct?" "Hmmm, probably", Arthurs said uncomfortably, "I'd love to think that pious bastard was flattened with the base, but knowing him thats too much to hope for." "Well then, we'll be on the lookout for him as well, where was Nigel's craft headed", asked Imnis.

"Our scans show its headed for North America, on a beeline for the east coast", replied Arthurs, "I've already alerted intercept squadrons to their presence, but Nigel is a good pilot, so I hope you brought some pretty good agents." "I did", said the commodore, without a hint of arrogance, he gestured to the ramp where a small squad of figures was gathering. "I thought, what better way to catch a lost spy than to send those who know him best after him." Arthurs looked up the ramp and was pleasantly surprised by who he saw. Coming down the ramp was another Confederate officer, though one of a lower rank than both the commodore and Arthurs, he wore the red and yellow of the Confederate army, with a standard, if worn, military uniform and a black officer's cap, but the most interesting part of his uniform was the insignia he wore on his left shoulder.

Rather than the typical red and gold cross and five stars of the Confederate flag, this soldier wore the red and black eagle of the Directorate. The soldier made it the bottom of the ramp and saluted the pair of officers, "sub commander Cameron Kreller of the Confederate 24th Special Forces Division reporting for duty sirs!", the soldier barked in a professional tone. The two commanders returned the salute, "I remember you", said Arthurs, "you were the commander in charge of the special forces division back at my base, Camp Artemis." Cameron replied with professional indifference, "that is correct sir, and if you recall I was also Nigel's CO during his time in the special forces", "not only that", continued the commodore, "but as you can see, he is also a revolution veteran." Arthurs looked at the eagle on Cameron's shoulder, "I can see that", he said in an forcibly pleasant tone, "well as long as you get the job done I don't care where you came from."

Cameron remained at attention as he replied, "we will do whatever you order us to do sir! In the meantime please permit me to brief my men on the situation." Arthurs was about to reply when the commodore preempted him by saying, "granted, but first prepare your team for immediate inspection." "Yes Sir", Cameron barked before turning on his heels and marching smartly back to his men. Arthurs eyed the commander with distaste, "he always was a bit too professional for my taste, but I never knew he was a veteran."

The Imnis smirked at Arthurs discomfort, "I'm surprised you didn't know considering you were the one to recruit him in the first place, though if I recall, you have a certain distaste for revolution veterans." "Well", said Arthurs matter-of-factly, "I didn't exactly have the greatest of first impressions with their kind." The two walked over the base of the ramp where Cameron was lining up his men in two rows of three. "He's also ex-Federation, so I don't exactly trust him that well either", the commodore looked at Arthurs with an ironic expression, "your ex-Federationt too, what does that say about your trustworthiness."

"Theres a difference", snapped Arthurs, "I joined out of patriotism, but him on the other hand, well..." Arthurs looked at the sub commander, "his recruitment was the result of a different reason." "Is that why you had him serve at your base, so you could keep an eye on him?", asked Imnis quizzically, Arthurs let out a low chuckle, "of course, why else?" "Hmmm, well you'll be happy to know that his... unique expertise is not the only reason why I had him brought here", "oh?", asked Arthurs curiously, "and what else would make him so valuable to this operation?"

The commodore didn't say anything at first, he just pointed to one of the soldiers in Cameron's squad, "that", was all he said. Arthurs looked at the commodore questioningly, Imnis gave no reply. Letting out a huff, Arthurs walked over to the indicated soldier and asked, "well then, what makes you so special?" The soldier smiled, "me sir? Lets just say I've had a bit of prior experience", said Chad Dickson.

* * *

**Well this took forever to write, I actually checked the word count and this is my longest chapter to date, it even tops that behemoth of chapter, chapter 8. For those of you have been following my story closely, you may see here that there are few hidden connections beginning to form, but I won't spoil what they are. If you think you know what they are, please feel free to send me a message so I can deny any proof of it, just like the CIA.**

** Anyway, now that we've had time to see a little into the lives of our villains, its time to get back to the heroes. Next time, the search for the lost legion begins! But until then, please favorite, comment and review.**


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